I like many ideas here. Especially the side story, i would love to learn in-depth background of each hero. But also want story well written, not the cheap one like each event story.
Also, i must agree on the time consuming part. I feel its more time consuming lately. I wish i can find the way to auto play but I cannot. Hopefully it's becoz of the tower event. I like tower event but Im not quite happy that its extended coz it requires concentration when playing unlike other types of event (especially on freshly unlock floors with not much difficulty lowered), thus consuming more time.
Earlier, I dont like the idea of using express ticket much coz it has its downside for make things too easy for players that may need 2-3 weeks or 1 more month to get to clear legendary capitol 100% of time but can spend gems to win now and just use express ticket to auto it.
The same case goes for legendary mode in the event. It will ruin the competition balance as it's no longer about playing better but could turn to be spend once if it's just a little out of hand and express all the way... But I don't know if I wanna care about this anymore now that it's very time consuming with just raid and event, not to mention that guild war and conquest are not even released yet. Or if the devs or any players can come up with any idea/suggestion that will not ruin the balance too much, i would love to help discussing and providing feedback