There's other things to it too. I've been trying to bottle up some changes to matchmaking to eliminate one possible way that a wonky metric is being used for matchmaking, in addition to making other changes to improve variety in attack lists and spread attacks out more evenly.
You don't get a prize for being 2300 for most of the week; you only get a prize for finishing there (and being within the top 25). You just have a natural advantage to being able to place highly the closer you are to a given division as the week comes to a close.
There's arguably more value from spending ironite later in the week, but also arguably more risk that you won't be able to catch up to the division you want the more other people try to do the same.
I would maintain that, all else being equal [which is not the case, but we're investigating that], trading more time/ironite to catch up and pass compared to those who maintain a rank throughout the week is an appropriate trade off. There will always be a pressure to finish in the top divisions relative to the amount of people who want to be there... based on how much they want to be there. In general, though, while there is movement at the top, most people at the highest divisions end at a rank not far off where they were in the middle of it (even Jofer cooled his jets for a bit then blitz towards the top mid-week to make it easier to end on top).
We naturally want to limit how much you can just throw ironite at your screen to bypass others to give more people a chance, which is generally kept in check with the general length of combat and the increased likelihood you'll be revenged. However, if someone wants the top that much more than you... then you'll be passed.
For sure. As always, I'm very appreciative of how mature and constructive many of you guys are as we continue to improve and add to the game over time.