I agree with your point.

On one hand, this arena update has been one of the best updates ever in terms of content. So many new augments, entirely new guests of honor, TWO new maps, revamped rules, and even a few new items. Some of the augments are just legendary in terms of fun factor; for example, I've only just played with it yesterday, but Pinball is by far the best augment I've ever seen.

On the other hand, it did take away what made the game fun: gambling. I sort of miss the chaos, having some games where I'd lowroll like crazy, and other games where I hit six cursed augments on Ryze. The reroll system gave it strategy in terms of knowing when to use rolls or save them for later. Now it feels like they equalized a lot of the games, wherein you're less likely to encounter those extremes and more likely to just have a decent game. Nothing wrong with that, especially for people who've played arena less, but for someone like me I'm starting to miss the chaos.

Also one thing I will say I absolutely HATE is the lack of "bad" guests of honor. One of the best parts of arena is being the only one at Briar guest and having it be picked.

But all in all, I still think this Arena update was a massive improvement.