my only gripes with the arena was, like you said the rock, paper, scissors. and the fact gear was a main factor. some noob playing a friends character could kill you simply because he has twice as much health as you and a bunch of resilience gear.
I was mainly a 2vs2 guy so the big issue was the warrior/hunter+druid unstoppable combos.
me being a shadow priest was stuck with its only counter the Rogue+(s)priest. However, (s)priests are very susceptible to mana drains (ironic really) yet the druid has alot more mana regen and a +400% mana regen buff for 10 seconds. You'd have to do everything correctly in order to win against that combo, else, the druid would simpy outlast you.
yet again, you make War sound very,very appealing heh. I feel jealous you are able to play it