Unless you're in Utopia (and sometimes even then), you can always get some wins when you first start playing because there are bots and/or inactives in every low league.
I started out in Utopia last season and you can scratch the first season and a half. Thats like 4 months of no fun at all. Right now I got like 160k in the bank and looking to buy a stud (hint: I won't find one for that money).
If you could win straight away and shoot to the top straight away, this game would lose its appeal very quickly. Success feels best when you have to work for it, not when it's given to you on a silver platter.
This spoon feeding narrative is old. Nobody is shooting to the top straight away, but the path could be much less steeper.
As for taking two years, that's nonsense. If you're really smart, you could likely get to the top of any league in two years. Of course it depends how many other really smart people there are in your league. But, a game of strategy should reward those who think deeply and make good decisions.
The game is very complicated and has become much more complicated in the last few months. Question is if we only want to cater Mensa members, or target the recreational player too. Latter sounds more appealing to me.
Größter Knecht aller Zeiten aka His Excellency aka President for Life aka Field Marshal Al Hadji aka Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas aka aka Conqueror of the Buzzerbeater Empire in Europe in General and Austria in Particular