Classic feels worse than last month
I'm gonna be honest, the classic fights are very restrictive. Last month, for the tech quest, you let it so any tech champs with armor up buffs could power drain to get the fury. Now you took that away. Also, this month, the mystic champs you can use are limited to mystic power drainers/stealers. Barely any champs have that. I had to bust out the 6* Doctor Doom.
It doesn't really change anything for endgame valiants to lower the health of the classic defenders. Most champs are locked into some type of rotation, and you'll just up overkilling and completing each fight in a similar amount of time as before.
So I've found myself spending roughly the same amount time, if not more, doing classic as a 26k prestige valiant. You say you have to make us wait a year to bypass classic automatically. However, if the technology is really that limiting why not go back to the ticket system where you get a ticket and then you can access the quest. But instead of having to explore or complete classic to get the ticket, you just mail it to us.
There are many ways to approach a problem, I just find it difficult to believe a whole workforce of people cannot find any solutions other than to make players sit through the most boring thing possible for a year.