Aether raids

With the Aether Amphorae capped out, you start the new season with 200 Aether vs. 100 at Lv. 1 or 150 at Lv. 2, which is significant because it allows you to get in some extra battles on Day 1. During the mid-season, it is a bit pointless to increase it since you only get 50 Aether per day and that isn't enough to reach the limit if you play every day, as you said. However, a capped Amphorae does allow you to skip playing for a few days without consequences (as long as you do the free play), but you could already do that with a Lv. 2 one--you just can't skip as many days. Maybe hold off until the end of the season, then decide if you want to start the next season off with 200 Aether vs.150.

Your score at the start of the season is equal to the minimum score required to stay in the Tier that you ended off at last season. For example, if you had 3800 at the end of the season (which is Tier 10), then you will start the next season with 3600--the lowest score possible to stay in Tier 10.