Leagues - the XP vs Koban balance

[JustVisiting]

I wanted to look at the XP/Koban trade off that was being discussed here in a little more detail.
 

Before going further, I will say that I’m not convinced there is a right or wrong answer to this – at least a right answer that could be reached without delving into machine learning systems, so personal opinion will make a difference – and that I’m using my own situation to draw a baseline. The case for other players may vary.

The previous discussion was related to the value of boosters and looking to extrapolate the optimum balance from the league. Is it better to make more Kobans or make more XP? @DvDivXXX felt that I might be better placed playing without boosters and possibly dropping down a league to increase the XP gained.

The first thing I wanted to look at is what value in terms of XP I would gain for playing without boosters. Here’s my results from last week (with boosters), which saw me finish 17^th with 32 performances I know I could have won unplayed:



My point total at position 17 was 3788. I couldn’t take any further wins as that would have put me above 16 and resulted in me being promoted, which I didn’t want this week. I could perhaps have grabbed a loss, but for 50XP I didn’t feel the risk of being inadvertently promoted to be worth it.

So I’ve constructed 3 scenarios as an effort to gain a range for what a lack of boosters would do for me: a reduction in the points by 10%, 20% and 30%. I’ve stopped at 30% as I feel there is a ceiling to how much of a gain in XP can be made which I’ll point out later.*

These comparisons use some assumed averages, those being 250XP and 20pts for a win. I’m ignoring losses altogether as these are XP inefficient so non-desirable outcomes. 20pts is maybe a little too high, but is a nice round number to work with and the difference shouldn’t distort things too much.

10% reduction in points without boosters

This would allow an extra 379 to be earned without promotion, meaning approximately 19 additional wins and an extra 4750XP/week.


20% reduction in points without boosters

This would allow an extra 758 to be earned without promotion, meaning approximately 38 additional wins and an extra 9500XP/week.


30% reduction in points without boosters

This would allow an extra 1136 to be earned without promotion, meaning approximately 57 additional wins and an extra 14250XP/week.


Depending on the % point reduction from not using boosters, the above shows that the XP gain looks to be potentially significant.

However, there are other considerations.

Firstly, as noted before the comparison, I only left 32 sure wins unplayed. This means that if the reduction in points was 20% or more not using boosters I would run out of wins available (as the point reduction allows for more wins than I left). As such the full XP gain would not be available to me and I’d have to pad that out with losses with far poorer XP to pts efficiency.

Secondly, without the boosters I would have had less wins available to me overall – I simply could not have beaten all of the players I had beaten already without them - meaning that the 32 sure wins isn’t accurate. I couldn’t say what that total would have been but it would likely be far lower.

Alongside the above the wins that would be the most likely to go first would be the higher level players (I pick off high level wins first and beat a half dozen or so players 100+ levels ahead of me with reasonable regularity). Not all wins are equal (despite my crude estimations above). The higher the level of player you’re beating, the larger the XP prize. So the wins you cut off are likely to be the most valuable first. The higher level players generally gain me 10%+ more XP than the 250 I estimated above. These are also the wins likely to result in the fewest points gained. So it is the most efficient wins that are lost first.

The above could be offset by dropping down a league tier, where the quality of player would be lower and the number of wins available would be greater. However, this has its own drawbacks. Firstly the poorer quality of player is likely to exhibit as lower level of player. Lower level of player = lower XP reward for winning. Also add to that the likely higher point score for playing against lower level players and the extra points that are made available are likely to get eaten up in less fights. *This is where I feel the ceiling I mentioned at the start is likely to come into play.

Secondly, dropping down a level is going to reduce the potential Koban win. Between a 16-30 bracket placement at S3 vs D1, the Koban difference is 77/week or 308 in a four week period. Over a similar 4 week period and forgetting the considerations noted above, I could gain an extra 19000XP (10%), 38000XP (20%) or 57000XP (30%). At my current position, Level 336, it takes around 52000XP to move up a level, so this is between 0.3-1 additional level/month. So the choice here is somewhere around 300 Koban vs 1 level.

And this takes us to the secondary consequence of this decision (secondary as in degrees of separation rather than second on a list). If you pick the XP over the Koban, then you have fewer Koban available to invest in Mythic girls. By my recent estimations a Mythic now costs roughly 1.6k Kobans. So that’s almost a reduction in Koban of 20% of a Mythic girl over a month. Fewer Mythic girls means a lower likelihood of being able to field the optimum team. This change is far harder to quantify in any meaningful manner, but it seems like it should be considered.

My intention was to move to D2 this week, meaning that the difference between that and S3 would actually increase to 153/week or 612/4 weeks – close to 40% of a Mythic.

As I said at the start, I don’t think there is a right or a wrong answer here. There is a trade-off. Different players are going to have different priorities. The purpose of this post was to help me align my own thinking on the matter and try and lay out the different factors that are worth consideration on this nuanced issue. I’m sure other members will see points that maybe I’ve missed.

Right now I think DvDivXXX is likely right that I could gain more XP by going booster free in D1. Personally, I think I’d rather move up to D2 with the additional Koban gain and then drop boosters if possible once I'm comfortable achieving a 16-30 position there. This results in moving up the levels a little slower and have more Mythic girls. I’m sure others would take the higher level over the Mythic girls. My rational on this is that at the present time there is an upper level cap (500). As long as that remains in place I’m always gaining ground on the most advanced players in terms of level. So taking a little longer to get there isn’t as big a problem as having more gaps in the Mythic girl line-up, that would mean being competitive on less week on reaching the destination (keeping in mind that the Mythic girls have short windows of availability and can’t just be picked-up whenever you’re ready).

That’s my take based on the above. Would be great to hear other opinions! 😊


 

Edited September 24, 2021 by JustVisiting

[DvDivXXX]

I've just opened the thread, so I'll answer a bit later, but you did the right thing starting a new thread for this. I've moved it to the relevant subsection though: 

• QA questions answers 

[jelom]

51 minutes ago, JustVisiting said:

there is an upper level cap (500). As long as that remains in place I’m always gaining ground on the most advanced players in terms of level. So taking a little longer to get there isn’t as big a problem

Even getting all XP from D3 leagues you will need over two years to go from level 400 to level 500 ... With your strategy of staying in lower leagues and leaving one third of the players unfought, you will need at least another full year just for that stage. That is not a little longer.

[Kenrae]

I have never been in that situation because I started playing in 2017, so I can't give precise advice. But there's something else you should take into account: if you start gaining levels faster you'll eventually go up the ladder faster too, and this will give you more kobans. So this strategy doesn't mean you're holding back your koban gains forever, just for some time, and you'll eventually get *more*.

Also, on the higher level players, you can always play without boosters most of the time but use them one day of the week in order to beat them.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Kenrae

[DvDivXXX]

2 hours ago, JustVisiting said:

So the choice here is somewhere around 300 Koban vs 1 level.

To say this is a "damn good deal!" would be an understatement. I'd gladly purchase a whole level for 3k kobans, maybe more (and most experienced players would). As I said in the other thread (and as Jelom also said from a different perspective in the post above) whether earning less kobans for more XP is a good thing is not even a question. XP is extremely scarce and far more precious than anything else, including kobans. You can't generate XP out of thin air, or even summon it with a magic credit card (thankfully). And this is a very, very long term game. So every XP point you're missing out on is just a net negative for you in the long run.

Again, I like your enthusiasm and eagerness to understand and master the nuances in this game, but in this case you're not asking the right questions. All your scenarios and calculations above are unfortunately a waste.

I'll take the "teach him how to fish" approach and point you in the right direction rather than giving you the answers directly.

2 hours ago, JustVisiting said:

 

At least 119x50(-ish) XP were left on the table, here. Almost certainly a lot more.

How could you have claimed that XP without risking promotion? What could you possibly change in your approach besides (not) equipping boosters? What actions can you take before a fight to earn fewer points, so that you can play more fights and earn more XP (without raising your points total into the danger zone)...

Forget about the kobans thing. Focus on XP, and answer the questions above as candidly as possible. Don't dismiss any idea that comes to mind, even if you get a knee-jerk reaction that "this is silly". It isn't. ^^

Now I'm looking forward to what you come up with on your own from there.

[JustVisiting]

3 hours ago, jelom said:

Even getting all XP from D3 leagues you will need over two years to go from level 400 to level 500 ... With your strategy of staying in lower leagues and leaving one third of the players unfought, you will need at least another full year just for that stage. That is not a little longer.

This is suggesting the diametic opposite of the original proposition (unboost and drop down a league tier). I understand your point, but I think it still runs afowl of the balance.

If I was to aggressively promote myself up league tiers, I'm confident that I could be in D3 in 2-3 weeks time. However, the number of wins I could actually achieve at this stage in D3 would be minimum. As it takes ~5 losses to gain as much XP as a single win, I'd need I'd need nearly 1k losing performances to earn as much XP as the 192 wins I did in D1.

I absolutely agree, once you get to D3 the rules of the game change and there is no longer any benefit in capping yourself. You take as much as you can every week. But you still probably shouldn't be in D3 until you can make an equivalent or greater amount of XP by playing through all the losses than you would have just claiming the wins in D2.

Do you just want an extra soft player to score off of in your bracket? 😋

[DvDivXXX]

@JustVisiting I think you misread Jelom, here. His first statement uses the general "you", not "you, specifically, right now". It takes years to slooowly reach the level cap is the point. And with how you've been playing in leagues so far, you've been slowing down your overall progress towards that distant end-game even more. That's absolutely true, and not incompatible with my previous advice.

Which was, just to clarify, basically: "stop using boosters for now, maximize your XP gains as your absolute and only priority in leagues from now on (until you eventually reach the stage where you can actually survive in D3 while still earning good XP, which won't be anytime soon), and I meant you should even go down to a lower division if you have to (to achieve the goal of earning as much XP as humanly possible in your current situation, every week for the next 6-12 months). If you can make it work right now while staying in D1, of course you should do that.

[JustVisiting]

3 hours ago, DvDivXXX said:

To say this is a "damn good deal!" would be an understatement. I'd gladly purchase a whole level for 3k kobans, maybe more (and most experienced players would).

Would you purchase 50k XP for 3k Kobans though? That's the tradeoff we're actually talking about. To me a level is a few days work. To you, at the stage of the game you're at, it could be a few weeks. The value of a level is fairly radically different between the two of us at the present time and I could see why you would consider a level at that price a bargain. And for the sake of clarity, I am talking Nutaku Kobans not HH.

However, I do see something in this statement. If XP is worth more than Koban, then getting to D3 and using AM boosters would be a good trade off lower level (within reason) players at least once a week. You're not going for the big win but the AM is going to give you better chances of more wins. Tipping over those close losses to wins will increase your XP take over the week. At a cost of 90 Koban, depending on the XP you could gain, that could be a good deal.

 

3 hours ago, DvDivXXX said:

How could you have claimed that XP without risking promotion? What could you possibly change in your approach besides (not) equipping boosters? What actions can you take before a fight to earn fewer points, so that you can play more fights and earn more XP (without raising your points total into the danger zone)...

Forget about the kobans thing. Focus on XP, and answer the questions above as candidly as possible. Don't dismiss any idea that comes to mind, even if you get a knee-jerk reaction that "this is silly". It isn't. ^^

Off the top of my head I can think of a few things. Hobbling yourself can be achieved via i) not using boosters ii) switching out your legendary equipment and iii) putting in a weaker team. So I can certainly see how I could extract a little more XP. If you can drop a win from 22pts to 17pts, and do that over a lot of extra fights, you are going to be able to pull out some extra XP every week (an average reduction of 2pts/fight over 192 fights is an extra 384 pts available. So an extra ~20ish wins and an extra 5k XP/week).

But I would have thought the balance would be to get through all of the WINS rather than take the losses. If you start having to take the losses (i.e. you've claimed every win possible via hobbled and unhobbled play), chances are you're better off moving up a tier. And that's where you have to start being careful not to hobble yourself so much that some of those wins turn into losses. That would quickly eat the extra XP derived from this strategy.

Edited September 24, 2021 by JustVisiting

[DvDivXXX]

You're getting closer (referring to your guesses in the second part). ^^ But it's more subtle than that (and more tedious: be aware! it requires work).

In the first half of your post, you're getting way off track, though. AM boosters are basically worth using only if it can almost guarantee a Top 4 in D3. I'm not quite there yet, so I've stopped using them after trying them last week. At your level, this shouldn't even be on your radar.

And yes, I would probably buy 50k XP (right now) for 3k kobans (HH kobans, not Nutaku kobans, which would be 18k on HH). I'm already buying 100k XP (over 2-3 months ^^) for 540 kobans, again HH kobans, so 90 for you. It's not a lot, but every bit counts. XP is the life.

Anyways, I thought this might be fun to let you guess and make it kind of an educational game, due to your enthusiasm and curious approach. But if you find it hard or not particularly fun, or if you're struggling to find the solution, let me know, I'll just post it. ^^

[430i]

Isn't the whole discussion a bit pointless tho? If you hold back and skip fights in an easier league you lose XP. If you promote to the next one and you are the bottom of the barrel you still lose XP.

And by the way - you can buy XP with your credit card - I have 2 bundes in the shop for 300k XP right now.

[DvDivXXX]

1 minute ago, 430i said:

And by the way - you can buy XP with your credit card - I have 2 bundes in the shop for 300k XP right now.

That's terrifying. I thought they were yanking my chain with their "(XP from Bundles doesn't count)" line in some daily contests. And I imagine these are targeted offers only, as I have never seen a bundle with XP in it in my shop. Thanks for letting me know.

3 minutes ago, 430i said:

If you hold back and skip fights in an easier league you lose XP. If you promote to the next one and you are the bottom of the barrel you still lose XP.

If these were the only two possible strategies to maximize XP, this thread wouldn't be of much use, indeed. But no, there are much better strategies than either of these, hence this thread to nudge JV in their direction (and possibly other players passing by; maybe you? depends if you're still in the pre-D3 phase or not).

[45026831]

1 hour ago, 430i said:

And by the way - you can buy XP with your credit card - I have 2 bundes in the shop for 300k XP right now.

If you're a low-level, yes. It's a pay-real-money-to-catch-up-a-tiny-amount mechanic.

[MrXY]

My priority is also XP >> kobans. I think I'm in a similar position but maybe a bit further in terms of progress (for me it is the question between D2 and D3). My analysis looks like:

Target: Getting all girls (we are playing a collection game, but this could be different for other players)

Main source for getting girls: Kobans (I skip time as an obvious main source here)

How to get as much kobans as possible: League, the higher the better

How to achieve that: Higher Level (and other stuff, but level is the most important thing)

=> getting as much as XP as possible -> more kobans -> more girls

Of course you need also kobans to be cometitive. Sometimes it is a trade off, but XP is always more important to me. Important is that the time scale in this analysis is large. Things could be different if you plan only to play this game a year. But usually nobody starts a game with the intention to leave it after a certain amount of time. You leave it for other reasons.

I think everyone has to find out for his own situation how to maximize your income (or not, others have a more casual play style). Most experienced players here in the forum are in a different situation and the game changed, so they maybe were never in your situation.

Hope this was a bit helpful. I always have some problems in expressing my thoughts in a written (and foreign language)

In addition an advice from my experience: Give it a try in a higher league if you win a lot in your current league. Even a big level difference is ok until you reach D3.

Edited September 24, 2021 by MrXY

[jelom]

4 hours ago, MrXY said:

Target: Getting all girls (we are playing a collection game, but this could be different for other players)

Main source for getting girls: Kobans (I skip time as an obvious main source here)

How to get as much kobans as possible: League, the higher the better

How to achieve that: Higher Level (and other stuff, but level is the most important thing)

=> getting as much as XP as possible -> more kobans -> more girls

Target: You are right, we play to get all the girls ... and to unlock all poses and scenes

Main source for getting girls: You forget free combativity (it gives you 4+ girls per month), and orbs (epic, mythic, even GPx10 orbs) from all sources, most of them also free.

How to get as much kobans as possible: You are close, yes, top places in league is a big quantity, but don't neglect the amount added by event missions, daily missions reward, daily reward, contests, season and PoP.

How to achieve that (league top places): High level makes it easier, but you also need skill understanding how the battle mechanics work and using boosters, and also a lot of free time to check the league many times during the week.

 

9 hours ago, 430i said:

you can buy XP with your credit card - I have 2 bundes in the shop for 300k XP right now.

Thas is just one level XP near 500, but it would help players with money to rush the low-level game phase

And about the promotion to higher leagues discussed above, remember the golden rule, if you cannot make top 4 in your current league don't promote.

[JustVisiting]

On 9/24/2021 at 1:34 PM, DvDivXXX said:

You're getting closer (referring to your guesses in the second part). ^^ But it's more subtle than that (and more tedious: be aware! it requires work).

In the first half of your post, you're getting way off track, though. AM boosters are basically worth using only if it can almost guarantee a Top 4 in D3. I'm not quite there yet, so I've stopped using them after trying them last week. At your level, this shouldn't even be on your radar.

And yes, I would probably buy 50k XP (right now) for 3k kobans (HH kobans, not Nutaku kobans, which would be 18k on HH). I'm already buying 100k XP (over 2-3 months ^^) for 540 kobans, again HH kobans, so 90 for you. It's not a lot, but every bit counts. XP is the life.

Anyways, I thought this might be fun to let you guess and make it kind of an educational game, due to your enthusiasm and curious approach. But if you find it hard or not particularly fun, or if you're struggling to find the solution, let me know, I'll just post it. ^^

Sorry DvDivXXX - I don't want to seem unappreciative, but last Friday RL delivered me a fairly significant kick in the teeth. Consequently I've had far less free time available. Enough to do what needed to be done, but forum posting was sacrificed.

I haven't had a lot of time to think about this, but would I be on the right track if I suggested inverting the strategy that you'd use in D3? i.e. specifically looking for boosted players to play?

And I take your point regarding the XP - I assume you're using the Alban's Mythical booster and you'd consider using that worthwhile all of the time?

[DvDivXXX]

3 hours ago, JustVisiting said:

Sorry DvDivXXX - I don't want to seem unappreciative, but last Friday RL delivered me a fairly significant kick in the teeth. Consequently I've had far less free time available. Enough to do what needed to be done, but forum posting was sacrificed.

Don't worry about the game, let alone the forum, if you have a lot on your plate IRL. Real life comes first, and I hope you're doing okay.

3 hours ago, JustVisiting said:

And I take your point regarding the XP - I assume you're using the Alban's Mythical booster and you'd consider using that worthwhile all of the time?

Yes, and definitely, although it is super slow and the impact isn't really noticeable short term. But it's bonus XP and since it's so slow, it's very cheap. I'm barely under 75k out of 100k XP on the one I've equipped the day they've been released a little over 3 weeks ago. So it should take me around 12 weeks to use up one of these. 1 mythic booster every three months isn't a lot of kobans to invest, and since XP is so scarce and so crucial, why not take every little bit you can? Imho, there's no good reason not to have one going at all times.

3 hours ago, JustVisiting said:

I haven't had a lot of time to think about this, but would I be on the right track if I suggested inverting the strategy that you'd use in D3? i.e. specifically looking for boosted players to play?

Not really. Playing for maximum XP requires changes to your own setup and approach to fights more than anything else. Given your current circumstances, I'll just give you the main tips and tricks to do this efficiently. The guessing game wasn't meant to last this long. ^^

1. Play all of your fights, always. Fight every last one of your opponents 3 times every week, win or lose.
    
2. The amount of XP you get for each fight is only based on your level difference with your opponent and whether it's a defeat or a win. The performance itself doesn't change it beyond that. As far as XP is concerned, the only criterion is "win or lose".
    
3. The amount of points you get from any given fight, in sharp contrast, varies immensely depending on the performance itself. That's the main thing you want to focus on: identify sure wins, and play them for the win. Identify sure defeats, and play them for the lose.
    
4. The minimum score for a loss is 3 points. Aim for that whenever you engage in a fight you can't win.  The fewer points you score for a defeat, the "cheaper" that XP comes for your strategy. What you want to avoid is barely losing a fight. One 12-point defeat could have been four 3-point defeats. It's the same amount of point, but the latter is four times better for your XP strategy.
    
5. Once you take out all the sure wins and all the sure defeats from the equation, your optimal strategy for fights in between requires keeping an eye on your opponents and adjusting your goal (and setup) accordingly. If there's a solid chance you could score a win by making yourself as strong as possible, go for it. Conversely, if a "maybe" becomes a "probably not", then go in the opposite direction: make yourself as weak as possible to take as few points as possible for the same XP. Think of points as penalties. And, going back to boosters, on top of costing you kobans, they're also costing you penalties in the form of more points for your defeats.
    
6. To keep this going, you need stay in the same division. Keep an eye on your ranking and how many points away #15 and #31 are. You want to stay ahead of the latter, but behind the former. Which division is the best match for your current level and collection will be determined by trial and error, but then once you get used to doing this dance, it will be a slow but steady progression, until you stay in D2 durably. Once it becomes too hard to avoid promotion while playing for XP, it's time to promote.
    
7. For this strategy, you need to collect another set of items that you're normally used to resell on sight. You want to collect a full set of the crappiest equipment imaginable ASAP, and you want to keep it forever. That's because, contrary to boosters, you cannot just leave your equipment slots empty, so when you play for the lose, your best items are the weakest possible. I don't just mean weaker than usual. I'm talking things you would consider bad jokes when you play for the win. Mono Harmony items > Mono Endurance items > Dual Harmo or Endu /(OTHER Class) items > Mono OTHER Class items. And then of course Common > Rare > Epic > Legendary. Similarly, of course, you want to keep a Team of seven Level 1 girls with 0 star upgrades (ideally Common, then Rare etc. oh and obviously from anOTHER Class) and with the current system, make sure they're not boosted by Blessings as well.

Here are a few pics from my own journey through this phase, to give you an idea (even though it was a little different back then, the core principles haven't changed).

 

[syg forum]

It's nice to see that your game understanding have greatly improve dvd

(syg)

[JustVisiting]

On 9/30/2021 at 10:49 AM, DvDivXXX said:

Don't worry about the game, let alone the forum, if you have a lot on your plate IRL. Real life comes first, and I hope you're doing okay.

First world problems. Everyone's healthy. I've lost something that I spent a decade building, but the truth is I'm in a far better position than the majority of people in my social group. It's been (and will continue to be) emotionally painful, but it's trivial compared to what many other people have/are going through.

Interestingly, this game has actually helped me in unexpected ways. I found the game by happenstance after a run of rather bad luck in life. Factors that were entirely out of my control but that had significant implications for me had taken me to some pretty dark places at the time. My self-confidence, which has always been a big factor in any success I've had, was very low. As trivial as it is, winning here allowed me to feel good about a small element of my life during those times. And it offered a distraction and a focus away from the things I couldn't control.

I'm not saying this game is any deeper than it is. It was just in the right place at the right time for me.

 

On 9/30/2021 at 10:49 AM, DvDivXXX said:

The minimum score for a loss is 3 points. Aim for that whenever you engage in a fight you can't win.  The fewer points you score for a defeat, the "cheaper" that XP comes for your strategy. What you want to avoid is barely losing a fight. One 12-point defeat could have been four 3-point defeats. It's the same amount of point, but the latter is four times better for your XP strategy.

I can't believe I've never thought of this before. Now you point it out, it's so damned obvious. And damned useful.

 

On 9/30/2021 at 10:49 AM, DvDivXXX said:

Once it becomes too hard to avoid promotion while playing for XP, it's time to promote.

 

On 9/24/2021 at 11:29 PM, jelom said:

And about the promotion to higher leagues discussed above, remember the golden rule, if you cannot make top 4 in your current league don't promote.

The two comments above do seem to conflict a little. I always went with @jelom's rule up to this point. I had very much reached the position where, even unboosted, I couldn't have used all of by battles without promoting. I went for promotion last week and ended up 7th, though I could have ended 5th but didn't see buying extra battles as a useful exercise at that stage. In all fairness, for the two proceeding weeks the point total I ended on would have comfortably landed me #2, so maybe I just got a little unlucky and drew a set of particularly active players for a D1 league. But I am kind of nit picking here. From what I can see, the two suggestions have significant overlap. @jelom's is a general guideline while your's is a more detailed expansion on the same line of thought.

I'm looking at those screen shots and smiling. The game's changed a lot! They are D2 leagues and the highest level player I see is 406! I can even see a level 295! To show a similar position range from my current league:


 

Just goes to show that there are more and more players active who have been for years. Rough estimation - 75% of the player's in my current league are above level 406.

I'm going to implement your advice above, but not this week. First week in a new league, I need a calibration week to figure out how tough it's going to be to hit that 16-30 bracket. After that I'll start making adjustments to maximise the XP I can take.

Thanks!

Edited October 1, 2021 by JustVisiting

[DvDivXXX]

5 hours ago, JustVisiting said:

From what I can see, the two suggestions have significant overlap. @jelom's is a general guideline while your's is a more detailed expansion on the same line of thought.

For the most part, yes. But I also know of players who lost months of progress because they took this (or a similarly specific milestone) too literally. It's a very rough estimate and a slightly tongue-in-cheek "golden rule" (from a reeeally long time ago, I might add: if you think my D2 screenshots show their age, you don't want to see the dinosaurs on Jelom's ^^). I know a guy who demoted on purpose until he managed to score a #1 in every division, for instance. ^^

Meanwhile, this is me:

 

I'm sure glad I'm not still playing the on/off weak/strong dance in D1, waiting for my first top 4 there. ^^

These are secondary bonuses you might or might not grab along the way, but the ultimate goal is to reach the next phase in the least unfavorable position and as soon as possible. Next phase being "survive in D3 while sitll making decent XP, and never have to deliberately underperform again". But that's a story for another time, as this is the destination of the journey you're just about to embark upon.

Anyways, good talk and I'm glad this game hooked you at the right time. Feel free to ask if/when you need more advice or info, and best of luck to you!