Average solo player here. I share your annoyance. That said, the real issue isn’t malice from the devs but rather how design principles around human motivation, recognition, and reward have been applied. I suspect the end results are more about diabolical population characteristic the devs don’t control. Read on if interested. I’ve included a suggested way for you and me to get the helm at the end of this reply. The top 1% should have activities that are genuinely challenging, with elite rewards that recognise talent and effort. Elite activities normally use advancement systems with both upside and downside consequences. This approach often provides an appealing challenge with a nice bit of tension to help improve skills, and provide that sense of achievement. Arms Week’s averaging mechanic is a solid example. These events should be open to open to everyone, so players who want to learn and grow can give it a crack. For average players, who aren’t elite and don’t have the time to grind, it works best when there’s a clear, appealing reward structure. That is play mode X, get Y points toward your achievement. Then come back tomorrow, do a bit more, and your score edges up even if you play poorly, and climbs faster if you improve. Rewards should feel worthwhile recognising time invested and for achieving the objective, but still differentiated from elite rewards so both pools maintain their perceived value. These are not new ideas. They’re grounded in more than a century of motivational research, Herzberg, Maslow’s and more recently Deci & Ryan’s self-determination theory have all been applied in game design to better connect recognition, reward and motivation to help all players feel and sense of satisfaction and fun. Now if I know this I’d image the devs do too. After all they are professional game designers an player motivation and satisfaction is learnt early for these folks. I suspect player stratification and population numbers per stratum is this a big factor. Anyway, just my two cents. I’m feeling the same frustration you are. For what it’s worth, I’m planning to wait for the score lock, then use LFG for the non-matchmade events, together with match made activities, to grab two top-10% scores, which should be enough to nab the helm. Kind of cheapens things for the elite players, though. After all that effort, all they really have to show for their top 1% status is the First of the New emblem. Maybe that’s enough for them. Not sure.