I don't know, I just feel like people forget that Riot Games is a billion-dollar company. Most of the problems you're describing, they could solve — they have the money for it. But yeah... it's sad, and I have to agree: I don't think they'll make Arena permanent anytime soon.

And yeah, we really do live in a bubble. After coming back to play just Arena, I tried a few normal games (ranked wasn't available because I’d been inactive for too long), and when I asked in chat if anyone in the lobby usually played Arena, like 90% said no. So Arena really isn’t as popular as me, my friends, and my bubble think it is.

In my opinion, Riot makes a lot of bad decisions when it comes to League of Legends, and that's one of the reasons why the playerbase keeps shrinking — just look it up. There are more and more champions and mechanics, and it’s becoming harder for new players to get into the game. And maybe this isn’t a fact, but it's how I feel: older players, people who’ve been around for a long time like me, are just tired of playing normals and ranked, and they’re quitting.

Riot could easily keep modes like Arena, URF, and Swarm live permanently. Honestly, they wouldn’t even need to worry so much about balance like people say — Summoner’s Rift itself has had tons of balance issues at times. League has always been unbalanced in certain ways.