First and foremost I think the best thing for the weaves (even right now) would be to enable us to host to our friends. Even having subperformig bots would be better than going in alone.
The system as it is now is geared towards the leaderboard in a way that is not really working, so my suggestions will make the weaves friendlier for casual players while still being this “coopetitive” thing.
Winds: make each wind a separate ladder with it’s own board. People will be able to try them as they feel like. This fits the theme of going into the winds of magic at will. It will also tell you which are the most fun, the hardest etc. Freedom is rarely a bad thing and I bet some siennas just want to ride the aqshy.
Difficulty: Make separate leaderboards for the various difficulties. Recruit players (are they a thing?) have a right to play the mode too, and to compete against each other. Maybe there’s a player somewhere who really likes champ and wants to compete with the people at his level.
Variety: we need more variety, exp in the arena department. More dialogues, and more maps. The arena that reminds me of drachenfels made me think it could be a good idea to reuse content from the first game maps (the texture is the weaves, so hopefully no great work is required. Ride the nostalgia while increasing variety. It fits the theme of the weaves as jumbled bits of reality).
Story: we have a great intro to them. Have you planned a conclusion? It would be cool, but it doesn’t have to be in the weaves themselves. (I like the idea of a secret map unlocked by playing the first set of weaves - currently 40. It could be a new “normal” map that uses winds modifiers and assets).
Also, more dialogues please.
Less weaves: because 120+ queues is a bad things. Separating the difficulties will help with it. A recruit player won’t queue for a legend weave anyway. Less, better crafted weaves are a good thing. Only a fraction of the current ones are memorable.
Clear cut difference between core weaves and strictly competitive ones. A template could be as follows: each wind has 8 maps (could be more could be less) you can play at any difficulty. Have challenges and rewards as appropriate.
After that the rest is leaderboard territory. No frame awarded, no anything, except endless gameplay, increasing difficulty and bragging right. This is the territory of cata 2 and 3, recruit 2 and 3, whatever.