Starting a season late puts you so far behind, that in a "pvp" setting is just fuc%ing stupid.
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My suggestion is give conquest points for each win in arena, instead of by week. (Something like if you win 300 games, you should have enough pts to buy every piece you would need.)
Or better yet, make it like sPvP in Guild Wars 2. Where skill is the only thing that matters, kinda like SC2, Counter-Strike, Halo, Super Smash Bros., Street Fighter, every great pvp game....