I agree with most of this.
Regarding the speed/balance issues -- I really just want to play Magic with a much, much lower power level than anything that is currently supported, but WotC has been pushing the power level for so long that I don't even know if we can get back there. I would be open to playing something like Standard Pauper or Standard Artisan, but even that is probably way beyond where I really want to be. I want to turn the clock back 15 or 20 years to when 2R got you a Goblin Chariot instead of a Screaming Nemesis.
Regarding the Arena interface -- I turned off voice lines and background music, changed my graphics settings to Low, and set my default pet to none, all within about a month of starting Arena. And then after a while I just started leaving my headphones off anyway. I put up with emotes for over a year, but broke down and disabled them within the past month or so. It's been an improvement. I feel bad that I might be missing the occasional sincere "Nice" or "Thinking", but not as bad as I used to feel about getting a premature "Good game" or a "Your Go" during a complex turn. I would love a setting to disable non-essential animations. Sleeves, pets, ripple effects in the background. I play Arena despite those things, not because of them. And the card highlighting! I realize it actually provides information but I'd still shut it off in a second.
As for sitting through combos... Arena really needs more sophisticated skipping controls. MTGO has had "Pass until end of turn" and "Pass until next turn" for two decades.
I'm sympathetic to this complaint, but COVID-19 is what took me away from paper Magic. I was out of the game for three years and I'm only back now because of Arena.