I thinkt he updates to the rewards will definitely go a long way to decreasing the number of bots just by nature of the investment vs. the reward required.
I'm definitely not an OG player, but I'm not a recent bandwagoner either. As with most games I play, I'm a filthy casual. I spend money, but I'm no whale. I enjoy the game, but I'm a terrible strategist / theorycrafter. So, I almost have enough owned card power to hit silver 3, but not quite there yet. Once I make my CL purchases, I'll be there.
So until then, I am and have always been a Bronze League player. I've definitely seen a change in how games play out since I started, and while at face value, the changes to rewards should make me mad if I were to follow the crowd, I'm excited for them.
Sure, rewards will change, but there will still be rewards. I think Bronze meta will become more fun, and it's still just a short jump to Silver 3. All in all, I'm excited about the rewards changes.
Good luck in your battles.