The value for me is the censorship resistance. Although I don't plan on posting anything offensive, just the idea that somebody can decide that I should remove a post is appalling. I don't see Hive losing this feature. Thus, I don't think it will lose its appeal.
On the other hand, the more users the blockchain has, and the more traffic, the more bloated the chain becomes. I do worry that at some point only big corporations will be able to afford the machines that serve as witnesses.
Popularity could mean that people use Hive primarily as a wallet with little interest in the dapps.
Censorship resistance will always be with Hive, as it is built into the immutability and I suspect that no group of witnesses will ever change it - if they do, Hive has been lost.
This is true, but I suspect there will be more improvements made to this and, more advancements in intertwining chains together so not all information is held on the one.