A lot to parse, but essentially the same reason I don't hate DAZ in the sense of the OP.

Rather, like most places in my life, I pragmatically consider them a resource to serve my needs, not a 'relationship' with any sense of win-win (I have those too, just not with DAZ). I'm unapologetic-ally opportunistic. Everyone else is inherently opportunistic as well, but far too many seem to fall-in with the premise that that's somehow a bad thing. I assert that managed opportunism is the only reason for our continued success as a species. I only see opportunism as (arguably) bad when one's success is at the direct expense of another or at the cost of a better outcome over time. Such strategies are far more usual/natural than not - in a world of limited resources.

Deception and dishonesty are my red-flag symptoms of bad players, so I work to study agenda, walk-the-talk, and reliability in my interactions, and I act accordingly - doing so with very little malice, regardless the players and their strategies. What is, is - my game is navigation of reality, not the masking or 'repairing' of it.

I do have a visceral emotional distaste for the arbitrary and auditably disingenuous forum mods at DAZ. I'm truly impressed at the actions and beliefs that I've witnessed in their efforts to defend the often dysfunctional tribal core called DAZ. That they do what they do doesn't generally surprise me, as I believe that their agenda is completely sound (defense of the tribe), but that they believe their approach is actually productive and effective over the long-term indicates that a very different lens of the world is in place. Evolution over time will determine whose lenses are less myopic. Remember myspace, altavista, and soon-to-be facebook and twitter? The key players have long-since left, the rest of the crew and passengers just don't know it yet, heh. These things take time. My advice is not to waste too much engaging the silliness, once you realize the waste that it is.

Much like my high-regard for many of the PAs vs the brokerage, I continue to engage (at a much much lesser rate) the worthwhile forum people (e.g. Dart) that happen to take virtual residence in a neighborhood managed by an arguably 'interesting' governing board. But I'm quite comfortable that the exodus of most of the brightest bulbs in the crew is not random happen-stance. rah rah DAZ. And the forum mods seem not to notice, or perhaps have been told not to worry about it. Enough new blood to keep the ship afloat, perhaps? I dunno. They have the stats, but ... they can't ignore those brilliant and generous folks that are, for some reason, "no longer there" - not really. As I said, it's the few remaining folks of that caliber that draw me there - else, why show up - to chat with the mods and 12 new users that can't get DAZ Central to work on their D: drive? Don't think so.

re: Wolf and "looking down on 'us'" - I would certainly like to be good enough with 3D-mesh/texture tools to roll-my-own meshery as Wolf does so well, but I think I get a better personal return on a 75% off philw product that saves me those hours and probably is better than what I would have created anyway. I think Wolf is less 'snubbing' folks as he's indicating that we're probably far more able to roll-our-own than we believe, and he probably finds that disheartening when groups like DAZ are the recipients of our lack of adventure/exploration/initiative/(skill? :). Fair enough. Given the professed difficulty of this 3D business, I would take Wolf's posture as a frustrated compliment, rather than a slight - as being more in character with his pragmatism.

I also follow your sentiment that the PAs are distinct from the broker, and most are just doing their thing (that DAZ practically gives their stuff away on a regular basis confuses me from the PA lens, but delights me to no end, from the consumer side, heh).

A 'better' brokerage model will only occur if/when the market figures out what that actually means, but... when I can currently grab an incredible tango-alpha 3D asset for a couple of bucks from fastgrab or rendo-prime, this new market-place model has a high bar to meet, considering the barrier-to-entry for such an endeavor. Open-source dynamics are not to be ignored in this domain, it's simply going to take time. Rendo strikes me as finding a good balance in the natural tension of retail. As I've been conditioned to only buy on sale, I think Hivewire's demise was in clinging to the traditional retail model when the other brokers are effectively dumping products in the same market domain.

re: NFTs, I find it interesting that people like to buy and trade in ideas as an end-product (outside IP). I don't go there very much and I'm a cheap sucker, so paying for prestige has always struck me as being kind of odd. While surely the entire monetary transaction system we rely upon is based on trust/ideas, it's mostly a facilitation tools for transactions of ultimately useful items - even as aesthetic as art and music. But as an idea, it is more of the vehicle to resolve the escrow of promises, vs the end-point in itself. It's new territory, so I could be wrong, but I'm not one to invest in a bag that doesn't have something I want or need in it.

Like you seem to indicate, I think Carrara is developmentally done (save for a few cool plugins by its brilliant fans), and I tend to resent that DAZ isn't more forthright about their plans (or lack thereof) - but why would they shoot the golden goose (or bronze goose...) by announcing 'Carrara is Dead' or similarly 'Bryce is Dead'? integrity or respect for their user-base? Personally, I don't see it. The economics of integrity (there are some) vs economics of the shopping cart - place your bets.

That said, it's still way ahead of the curve in so many ways, and while less 'shiny', it's functionally capable and relevant, even 5+ years after the last release - in a fast moving industry. Absolutely competitive and useful - at least to folks that have invested in the framework and its operation. My 20 year old scuffed and slightly rusted hammer works just fine, regardless how much Sears might like to sell me a new one. Carrara is a solid tool, 64bit, extendable/SDK, and has access to Octane, and ... not worried, just saddened by the lack of appreciation and potential that we know is under the hood. To my thinking, Wendy and Dart have the right approach - use Carrara as the core, and use the Poser/DS/VWD/Blender/... as "plugins" to augment their mastery. That said, I would direct new users to Blender.

but ... i ramble.

best, --ms