For me:

Hive was the place where all the theory behind “Web3” finally made sense and came to life. Even as a non-technical person, I was able to do things like permissionlessly use other projects’ assets in my own endeavours, be 100% sure that those efforts would persist through crypto tech.

Hive was a place largely free of all the cryptobro hype circus, instead teeming with a really diverse and wonderful community all using the chain in unique ways.

No gas fees was big big deal back in 2022 or so. It’s a less competitive idea now that we have loads of very low gas chains… but what that did was give Hive a huge head start in attracting a way more interesting userbase.