I remember the time when I got something more than 1 c per post. Those were the fun times. For what it was and what it is now - it is a friendship contest. If you have a small budget, you aim at curating with full vote power which equates to circa 10 upvotes per day. The friendship circle grows slowly. The mightier your vote power, the more friends you get, because more people would want your "bigger" upvote back. And also, you can reduce the power of the vote and spread joy with more people. So it is really a game of fortune.
From that, coming to Hive should be for fun and not for profit.
I'm not into just swapping votes. I reward what I enjoy and have tried to spread the rewards. Hive is a form of anarchy and that's the way we like it.
!BEER
Unfortunately, a swapping game is perhaps the only ticket for a lower pool.
I remember seeing one comment where a person complained that he kept commenting and commenting but the other person would not return a favour so he said he will stop the engagement as there is nothing for him. When the engagement works one way, you lose "donors".
Thing is, Hive is a complex system where each sees its own algorithm and finds ways that work. If it would be so easy, we would have more users who stick around. I would disagree with a form of anarchy because the control is there and the hierarchy is too.
There's lots of different interactions going on. There are active communities who support each other. We cannot rely on whale votes as there are not many of them and they are busy people. I only see a small slice of Hive and it's fun for me. Your view may be quite different.