I was actually doing pretty good. I've spent some time speed tuning and gearing and it paid off (except to optimize completely would require me to nerf my speed farmer, which isnt going to happen right now). And pulling a Tayrel helped out immensely. I was even beating teams with 4 legendaries, (if i noticed they werent fully built) , and was rather confident entering against 60 fully ascended Kaels and such. It got me comfortably into Bronze 3 and I've stayed there for quite some time, even through the end of last week's rankings, I believe. I was heading into Bronze 4 Baby!
Well.... I woke up this morning after the rankings, square into Bronze 1 gain. LOL! And I don't get that much sleep . Arena offense is much different than Arena defense, obviously. ;-)
The Arena is just upper tier, which is not a bad thing, but missions and challenges, etc, should reflect that as well. I know and completely understand the arguments made by those who attempt to help, and appreciate it completely. However, if you were (honestly) an Early F2P player you would understand the points much better, i think. e.g. Gems are low (do not FTLOG buy into the gem mine as I did, it's a trap) therefore you're DXP lamp is off more often than on, you often find yourself just staring at your energy meter as it ticks up for another go with your chicken farmer. etc. LOL!
Eventually, I will make it to farm Dragon, etc. for better gear. but for now, brutal and nightmare campaign has better consistency for very specific items you are looking for (e,g, crit lifesteal gloves, etc), and your chickens level up along the way.
The rewards gained from the challenges and missions, etc. would help out immensely, and it's why they are there to begin with. However, they are not obtainable at the moment. It isn't about 'laser focusing' on the missions at all, but that DXP, energy, and pack o'gems look mighty inciting indeed, when you've been farming on empty for a while.
I am not complaining, even though it may sound like I am.. I likethis game and i'm not going anywhere. Juuust making an observation,believe me.