Rikuto
P-P-P-P-P-P-POWER!
Uhm i wouldn't call trashing the game while still playing it "sticking by this abomination through thick and thin" as you like to put it. Since those deeds do not attract players but rather scare them off and thus is not a positive thing for the game but rather negative(Im thinking you wouldn't call a wolf who is trying to kill a rabbit no matter what, "good for the rabbit" would you now?). Well from what i have seen in video's, streams and tournament reports it seem like the amount of players is increasing what do you base your observation on?
Forcing myself to play a game I do not enjoy could mean that I am a fool. Lying to myself and others about it, however, would make me delusional.
Damn near anyone who gets good enough to play the game at high level ends up hating it. How can you explain this phenomena? We didn't start playing the game because we thought it sucked. We started playing it because we thought it had potential, and we kept playing it because we wanted the game to realize its own potential and grow into it.
It has not done that, and the lower level players who can't understand the problems that it has keep trying to stunt its growth with their misguided opinions.