I still play Gladiators quite a bit, and am still having fun brawling - but on a quite low level, so it's different. Being able to get merit in the chests has accelerated my progress, though. But I understand that for long term players it's different.
About holding HIVE - I get the idea, but my noob-question is: besides curating rewards, what other benefit has holding HIVE? I still don't really see what else I can do with it but buy Splinterlands assets.