I can definitely see a world where L2 solves some of the problems on Hive but ultimately the network needs more motivated and talented technical people to work together and make new stuff work.

Were you there during the CTT last week? I think you might have been.
We talked narratives and the L2 narrative I think is one we should explore. Obviously... This post here is written with intent that people start thinking about that narrative more.
If we manage to offer infrastructure that can be competitive in the open crypto market, @vsc.network for example, then you will inevitably attract new motivated and talented technical people. That all happens before any move to L2.

If moving rewards to L2 is step 10, there will be so many things happening from the point where we have the infrastructure to the point when we can actually seriously consider the move.

These kinds of topics drive engagement towards what we ultimately need to be talking about. Layer 2. If I wrote a post:

"L2 will change Hive and provide so many future options... blabla"

No one would read that.
This... everybody has read this post and is talking about Layer 2.
Something we have been waiting for half a decade.