"Deal 1 damage to a creature" would force you to ping your own creatures if the opponent's board is empty. This is how Wicked Fae works, and it is annoying.

I don't think it is annoying, it is a fair drawback to being able to wake up your minions. if they want to keep the face damage then minion stats or their mana cost should be nerfed.
there is that moment in face decks when you have a critical mass of direct damage/godblitz that you can just race your opponent ignoring the board and 90% of the game while doing it.