So it's not just me; the arena FPS really is dead!

I don't know where the HL2 deathmatch being an arena shooter comes from, is that what it says on wikipedia or something? Nothing about the level design, weapon selection, or overall gameplay is indicative of an arena shooter, other than similar game modes and picking up ammo/health maybe.
Half-life was never a rep for arena shooters, and is likely one of the reasons they died off. You say Valve hopped on shitty modern trends, but the reality is that HL was always the ground zero for these trends that would eventually be seen as shitty.

Anyways, I stopped following UT4 years ago. Epic never took UT4 development seriously, so the constantly changing, understaffed team of devs who worked on the game unfortunately had to do so on their free time (from my understanding). Ut4 looked really promising at first, not 100% perfect gameplay-wise, but for what little there was there were some cool ideas at play. I still think it has the best feeling movement out of any arena shooter, and most weapons had a good sense of impact.
The problem came around 2016, when I started seeing a trend of baffling design decisions for each subsequent patch. I'm not one who thinks devs/designers should capitulate to every whim of the fanbase, but you guys gotta believe me when I say these devs were real bonehead dipshits. Harsh words for people working in their free time I know, but if you played these games for any amount of time, and heard these Epic devs try and justify their design calls, you would probably think they're clowns too.

I could imagine that Quake Champions also fell victim to ignorant game designers, which is why I didn't expect much from it. It's good for a developer to have some ambition, and I understand why companies wouldn't jump to make a 1999 arena shooter in 2020. The problem is, the guys who worked on UT4 and Quake Champions were trying to deconstruct a genre when they had no idea how to put it back together. The thought that these guys likely never learned their lesson, and are now making design calls on new games saddens me.

MeleeMonk

I don't know, you kind of remind me of it with your negativity.

However despite your provocation out of respect to other users I have moved the post.

Also stop insulting people, that is not acceptable behavior.

It's OK to use adult words as long as you are not insulting anyone.

From now on if you use bad language to insult members your posts will be removed.

stratogustav keep the conspiracy stuff in the Covid thread thx

But the last I checked, Team Fortress 2 was still going, if a little past its heyday. Shame about Quake.