if the timer goes longer than 7-10 minutes leave the queue and either refresh your game or just go in town or something for a second, works for me all the time. Its just a bug that doesnt connect you to the arena.

Now as others pointed out, your server needs to be a few months old to access cross server arena, if your server is too young simply queue with a friend so he can "sandbag" for you and let you win. You will both reach six paths in a few short days.