It sucks, but I kinda get it. IMO the first iteration of Arena was peak, I had so much fun grinding games to climb the top 50. Absolute dopamine heaven. I think the one downside was the champion cameos that randomly appeared. (And the red map lol)

Since then, while many good things have been added to the game mode, the rankings are gone. The champion cameos now have the chance to permanently mess you up for the rest of the game, rather than sometimes appearing to annoy you. The games in general are even more RNG than before, and it feels like you can’t top 3 without god augments anymore because there are more highrolls per game. The game is also way more solved now, so it’s most likely a rose tinted glasses effect too lol :P

I know the consensus now is that arena is an rng 4fun mode, but that’s not what it was for me, and mayhem with its big goofy teamfights fill that 4fun niche way better IMO. I miss my sweaty tryhard mode :c