auto-tuned pop by pretty girls who can't sing sells, too.  but it would suck if that were the only music being made.  and most people won't pay very much for it.  the burn-out you're describing is the same thing that's been happening to the music industry for the last decade or so because too many have taken the attitude of they already know what sells so why try anything else.

it's like movie sequels and remakes: even though there's a floor for how much you can make, there's also a ceiling.  and both keep getting lower as the market gets more and more saturated.

there are many, many, many fewer innovators than there used to be.  and not because fewer people have the skill and tools to be.  there's a larger percentage of  people who are just "users," but the number of content creators has still grown.   i'm reading more and more posts that every merchant should use certain high-end tools now.  like 3d painting tools, professional UV mapping software, and other advances.  sure materials and dynamics haven't been understood as much as they could have been by most creators, but rigging, modeling, mapping and texturing keep advancing.  what's been dying off for a while now is originality in how those skills are used. 

i definitely think we need more technical experimentation.  i don't think there are many in the world who could apprentice to bagginsbill, but there are those of us using his tools and learning from him.  odf and Phantom3d are doing incredible work, and drawing other talented and bright people into their sphere  but more important, imho, than technical experimentation is artistic and creative experimentation.  the very best sci fi catsuit with impractical boots in the world is still just one of the dozens if not hundreds of sci fi catsuits with boots. 

how many hundreds of posts do the perennial "is Poser work art?" threads attract?  and how many people go on and on about creativity and tools and photographs?  but i've literally never seen a photo community with a gallery as unvaried in content and message as this gallery.  i'm beginning to see the same sort of threads about D|S specifically.  somehow, even designers and illustrators in the advertising industry manage to be more broad and creative than our galleries show we are.  heck, our own professional arm has more diverse works. 

like i said, we're the CG underground.  but we're far more conservative in our work than the CG mainstream.