It is a year old and the community that branched off is a lot smaller than what was there before the fork. A lot of people stated there too or left due to the controversy.
What is here now is a solid base of hardcore enthusiasts. People that will put the time and effort to helping hive grow rather than just taking like on steem.
So much has been done to make it better over the past year that if they keep building at this rate for 2 more, what we have now will be unrecognisable in the future.
You can give out about what we have now and a lot of your points are valid but not that relevant. For year 1 blocktrades have been optimising the technical side of the chain. Year two they will begin to upgrade it. Them and many others.
When the tools are there to bring in more users without all of the extra steps there now we will see more growth and with more users we will see a higher price. Leo are dropping a new project at the end of the month with mass adoption and ease of use at the forefront. It's not theoretical, it's happening in real time. The only problem is that developing in real time isn't instant and we are looking at it in real time not just finding the finished product like the next generation of users will.