Hi @vaporent and welcome to Hive from down under in Australia, I started on the old Atari with Pacman and can even remember the old Space Invader days LOL. I am pretty new here myself and am still stuck in Splinterlands bronze levels grinding away. I have read lots of different strategies for progressing in the Splinterlands community. I suppose its about finding the one that works for you.
I ended up with two accounts, more by accident than design but that does take more time. I believe consistency is the key. Not missing on a daily quest is good for learning and building but as you have a land plot, I think I should be getting tips off you!
Risingstar is another game that's easy to keep ticking away in the back ground too.