I quit playing in MLIFE a few years ago; I went for 7* in
CET. Beginning with 4/1/15 (noted in another thread), the perks are diminishing.
Once I cross 150,000 TC and re-qualify for 7*, I was planning to do the rest of my gambling with MLIFE. Their qualifying year begins 10/1/15;
wouldn't waiting until then be the best time to resume play?
It would seem to depend entirely upon what the object/your goal is. Do you have a specific MLife tier you wish to attain? If so, then the second part of the question would be what level and what frequency do you play?
As you observed, MLife tier qualifying year begins October 1st. I re-upped for Platinum for 2016 (10-1-15 thru 9-30-16) by early January of 2015 (3+ months). There are probably others that are "Noir forever" (if there even is such a thing), while it might take others 11+ months to attain Gold or whatever.
As others have opined, simply "playing for status" (in
ANY program) is statistically and financially a bad idea and a poor proposition. In my case, "status" is just something that happens by virtue of the frequency and level at which I play. That is to say status level (any level) is something that just "happens", not something I'm directly focused on attaining in and of itself.
YMMV