I've thought that it would be awesome if we could get a toggleable (for example in the settings) option for automatically joining leagues.
From a subjective point of view, I've often wished for that. But requiring people to do it manually effectively gets more people to pay attention to the game and probably improve it's popularity. (Sort of like scheduled get-you-into-the-store sales.) I often see "friends" enter and leave the world when a new league starts. Without that, there's an increased chance they'd forget about Cardhunter more often.