the cost of the full RPC node should indeed come down drastically so that even witnesses in the top 75 ish should be able to pay for them out of the revenue at a steem price of roughly 3.
We started a bit before you and are also doing a lot of "software" and it seems to help, slowly... we are hitting roughly 1 block per day now and need 2 to pay for it all... so getting close
and I also added my vote to your pool... its not that much but its a few MVests more...
Thanks @felander, you guys have my vote as well. Maybe we'll also do some (computer) software in the future as well, let's see. You are three I understood, we are only two :-)
We are slowly getting noticed, I have hope :-)