I'm a very bitter vet myself, so take it with a grain of salt, but you're essentially correct. Space hasn't been as empty as it is today in over a decade, if ever before. Active player numbers are in the basement and falling and CCP is now even advertising starter packs with "More weapon slots, More damage, More tank". They are removing valid complexity and gameplay options left and right to "remove developer burden" (they removed the granular sound options a while ago because "almost nobody was using them" and made the game unplayable for me and many others unless we turn sound off completely).
The EVE of today is not the EVE you once knew. It's lost its soul in favor of making as much money as possible out of an ever shrinking player base.