Because of the bracket change a while ago, the gap between existing 3* players and those coming up on 2*s has been made even wider. I used to be able to get into top 50, score me a cover perhaps for my hard work, but now that is impossible. Everybody in the top ~60-70 is shielded up, and you are consistently put against 141s. Similarly, unlike 3* players, HP is much more of a luxury and I can't afford to spend it on shielding because I need it for slots (especially with the rapid rate of new character releases). As a relatively new player (lol I've still been playing for months; almost half a year), that's not really a reliable way of progressing towards a solid 3* roster anymore, and you either must rely on your alliance to place or hope you get lucky in the RNG.
Beyond scummy how the brackets have changed but the reward system has been left the same. You're more fucked than ever if you started playing later; changes just disadvantage newer players and create a 2* ghetto more and more.