Those who do OK at the start have completed the main settlement building for every settlement, as this gives ~100% A/D boost from day one.
You need more than that to get 100% A/D. Due to power-creep they are mostly all now redundant except Viking's Yggdrasil.
So, what is the point of spending hours doing the other settlements several times?
Most of their units get annihilated, every day. So what is the point?
You have made a very good point. With these 4th championship changes Inno has greatly increased the QI entry level to be successful.
1. You have to be doing
GE level 5 regularly so you can collect
Fragments of the Forgotten Temple. You'll need 200 Fragments to assemble the
Forgotten Temple, generally considered essential for improving A/D.
2. You have to be in and doing
GbG Diamond League regularly to have a chance to receive
Fragments of the Tourney Grounds. Collecting enough fragments allows you to assemble the
Tourney Grounds, which provides significant attack and defense boosts. Why you can't get these in lower leagues I will never know.
3. You will need a selection of new event buildings, The
Orchard of Orange Dreams was obtained by participating in the Care for Tomorrow Event, it is a no brainer, giving 200% 300% defence for attacking army and 300% 200% defence for defending army. It could be some time before you can get one again if you missed it. Still just 5% for QI but you will need it for GE & GbG activities above.
So, in effect there is no point if you don't yet have or do ALL of the above, because as you say you all newer players will now be annihilated.
Perhaps it will give them something to aim for in the future; but let's be honest to release a patch that only the top 20 Diamond Guilds can play was not a wise thing to do.