This is from someone who has never seen the price of Steem go above $1, so not letting the price of steem dictate my thoughts. Plus I still consider myself a noob on the platform, despite being here for 10 months. For me, the bots and manipulation of the trending page need to be gone because seeing the same folks over again on there, plus a lot of bickering is made public - looks like a bunch of kids, is that good to encourage more users? I don't think so.
However, the community outside that is strong and there are developments with dapps that are adding value in some way, which is a promising sign.
It does need to be made easier to comprehend, things need to be done under the hood so one doesn't need a PhD in cryptocurrencies to understand it!
Definitely more games would be good for "in-game" purchases using steem (micro-transactions for customised skins for example - just look at Fortnight Battle Royale) - this would have the possibility to get more buyers in.
Just some thoughts from a guy who has enjoyed being on the platform in the last few months since September 2018 as I was intending to leave until I met communities like Travel feed and #powerhousecreatives