I think most people know if they would enjoy arenas or not.
If your argument is “More people should feel compelled to AFK Arenas for PVE rewards” then I dont think that is really a good argument.
I put in my time getting the eye of the storm marks for my phase one weapon that lasted for 3-4+ months. I enjoy having zero pressure to do additional chores every week so these changes make me happy.
Unfortunately a lot of people that would have enjoyed arenas quit the game before they ever got going.
The honor grind is pretty ridiculous, they didn’t add horde vs horde bg’s for several months (hour long queues were common), and they had to buff arena point gains several months in as well (earning less than 100 arena points a week was common for below average players).
I understand your point about not wanting to do more chores but you could always not do them.
Original tbc gave casual pve players the OPTION to queue 10 games and get a good weapon after a few weeks. Tbc classic straight up removed this option by introducing rating requirements on items that didn’t have them.
They had S1 gear up in 3rd phase originally in TBC for honor and battle ground badges. S2 gear will come in P4 and S3 gear will also be available in P5 all for honor and bg badges. Again this is how it was originally in TBC. This isnt nothing new and is to be expected.