This is genuinely one of the most useful bits of feedback I have had, thank you for taking the time to think it through!
You are right about the sportiness, and it was an easy one to agree with,
So I have already changed it.
"Pre-season" and the season labels are gone, the year now runs through the Mustering, the Roads Open, the Long March and the Reckoning as Deepwinter closes in, exactly the idea of the harsh months being when halls prepare.
The tiers have dropped the "League" skin too and read as places and circles of renown now rather than football divisions.
On the bigger point, I want to be honest about the vision. The league pyramid is deliberate.
At its heart this is a Football Manager for a fantasy guild, and that spine is the thing that makes it what it is.
But your framing lands: the climb should feel like a consequence of protecting the realm and building a name, not like playing fixtures for points.
That is a narrative and presentation job I am taking on for the bigger update, keep the ladder, change what it means.
Your last point is the one I am most excited about.
You are dead right that the delve rating tiebreaker is abstracting something that would feel far better as a real consequence.
The direction I am heading is exactly that: a costly, casualty-heavy clear should bleed your hall so you fall behind because you are genuinely weaker next month, not because a hidden number ranked you.
A lot of the parts are already there (permadeath, injuries, fatigue, rotation), it is about letting falling behind emerge from them.
Really grateful for this. Feedback like yours is a big part of how the game is evolving, and me with it.
If you decide to frequent the halls again I look forward to what else you might have to say!
Thank you for taking the time to write this out.