Things change and we must adapt to it. I think good creators are still rewarded in this platform. We just have to learn what other's want too and not just what we want. I agree it would be a niche market just like others successful platforms there in real world but steemit being a niche market is part of "change" and development. Without these developers, investors, bots then steemit would never go to a different level. I think these changes are necessary for growth in long term.
Let's face it, this is about "profit" and the more profit people see in this platform, the more people would come in. And the more people coming in, the more opportunity for content creators to market their content. We just have to know what other's would love to read and not just knowing what we love to write.