Im split on it still, even after reading your whole post. I have talked to few Hivians who I know from 3 years back and none recommended buying to me.
My reasoning is: My whole Cryptoportfolio was made from Steemit so I can take 2%-5% and put it back into Hive and Steemit.
The two big Butts are tho that (1) My Steemit Account was worth 1.000$ when I left, I never powered down and (2) I made my money from writing long articles and engaging in discussions not through my voting power.
If your only goal is profit maximization in the short term, you might have better choices but if you want to build a community, make new friends and help foster an awesome ecosystem while making really nice long term profits, I am totally bullish on hive.
Higher HP doesn’t automatically lead to more profit but it definety does give you some influence and respect and shows you are giving as much as you are taking (there may be a few bad eggs out there, but in general)