Haha yeah for sure, the more followers you have, the more eyeballs you get to your article. Discovery on Hive is... not that great yet, your chance at getting way more views (and similarly, rewards) is largely dictated by whether it gets onto trending. And getting on trending is difficult without a good number of followers.

I think being too fixated on the rewards will eventually lead to a disinterest in Hive, so I think you're onto something there. Putting in large efforts into a post may not yield many rewards, but the pre-requisite to getting larger rewards is to put in the effort. Many of the highly rewarded authors have built up a following and a "brand" over long periods of time such that people know they aren't just in for a quick cash grab. I hope you manage to find more communities on Hive that you connect with! :D