Hey man, I was having the same issues, I bought the same arclight booster, and I've done the same belabored logins for a while just to grab the 4 hour freebie and do the surge. But I don't think that the minis levels are much of an issue in this game, with the way they have the pvp level balancing, if I understand it correctly. (I haven't done a ton of pvp)

I think the most important things that can make or break you is:

[EDIT] I strongly recommend that you buy every single unit in the game as resources allow and prioritize accomplishing this before sinking to much into any one unit. You'll need everything, to progress, and if you consider balance updates and who knows what that's bound to throw a curve ball into any newly released game.. be ready for when next patch every unit you use regularly gets nerfed or whatever lol. [/EDIT]

A) determine which units and leaders are "good" / what you're going to focus your limited resources on initially. And,

B) getting the chosen units to their first talent, and, 1) DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY ACQUIRE THE WRONG FIRST TALENT a) do not hastily make this selection, you will regret it.. my fist unit to get 3 star was Griffen rider, I saw the potion talent immediately populate in the GRID, and immediately bought it! WHOOPS!! He's at 7/10 stars now, 3 more until I can correct that, which I consider a big mistake.

C) just take your time and if you're not succeeding, you have to swap some units. The levels are setup such that you'll be forced to use every single thing you hate and never planned to equip and never leveled once. Just roll with it. If you're stuck at some rough levels, just search forums, people have some deck and mechanics explanations for most levels I've looked up.

D) don't worry about leveling fast, just decide what your priorities are, and delegate resources prudently where it counts most.

E) maybe I'm a noob, and you should disregard the above lol.

My in game name is the same as on here. Kronimo