With the recent patch, the devs continue to make improvements to Arena with removing cards that are way too impactful in the format, like removing Toysnatching Geist and Murloc Growfin:
Having played over 40 more Arena matches during the last two weeks, I would still say that over half of my Arena opponents are still barcodes or super-drafters— percentages do vary depending on the time and server that one plays on.
Since the new Arena season started, I had not been able to get better than 6 wins during a run until today:
https://imgur.com/a/tI0PT65
EDIT: This ^ run finished with 7 wins. It’s final loss was to a guy who was able to copy Horizon’s Edge—effectively giving him access to four copies of this location.
I took a risk with my next draft by picking Helya as my first pick, which is probably usually not a great choice, because one has to draw and play Helya, before one can get any value or possible synergy from other plague cards. I did manage to draft 3x Down with the Ship and 3x Staff of the Primus.
First match, I had Helya and 2x Down with the Ship in hand by turn 2, and the plagues destroyed this guy by turn 7:
https://imgur.com/a/1bmLF3M