Just read a post in these forums recently about people experiencing different performance in the pit, such as worse performance despite running a pit level lower than their usual comfort zone.
I felt the same thing too from time to time and I may have figured out why now (I am sure pros figured that too much earlier). Then today when I parked my character in front of the pit tower and go eat something quick (I have to when I need to due to being diabetic) When I came back to play I noticed I have 6 or 7 incenses open on my action bar!
Attack speed, Crit strike chance, dodge chance, all stats, armor, resistances etc…OMG you name it I had it!! And when I tried pit 130 (my max was 129 at that moment and It was taking long final boss fight) and I just ran all over them in 130. And then I waited for those incenses to disappear and tried again, I did not even have a chance, lol.
Moral of the story is, park your character in front of the pit tower until you get 5-6 free incenses and use your own too then go for your new max level.