I've never pirated 3d content and I wouldn't. I've been a customer here and at DAZ3D for 22 years. I have too much respect for the technical skills one has to develop to make things, even if I don't particularly like the offering. I don't have any respect for people who aren't willing to compensate the artists who make this an enjoyable hobby.

My own opinion is the feedback loop of the general marketplace has led to where we are today. 

For many years, DAZ has offered several new items most days of the week, and they are always discounted. As all the software has improved, and the figures have gotten more complex, I speculate it takes longer to produce quality content. I think the "new items every day, always on sale" expectation has conditioned customers to both underestimate the work it takes to make content and undervalue the final product. It also feeds into FOMO. 

For vendors, I think that customer expectation, combined with the nature of the marketplace, makes it really hard to get a return on their time and investment. If it doesn't sell well in the first couple of days, it's probably not going to sell later. So for the PAs that want to make money, it's smart to focus on what's going to give them the best ROI. if they want to indulge their artist side more and make something from a purely creative endeavor, they likely have to accept they won't make a profit off it - which is something any artist has to deal with. 

I think all that combined leads to more of the same items of the same genres, sometimes with improvements, other times not. And dinosaurs like me who aren't keen on what they are seeing and haven't learned to model their own stuff yet either drift off to other interests or keep using all their old content, which also means we aren't supporting the market. 

But this is a financial transaction, and I'm not supporting a market that isn't supporting me and interests. It's not a charity. I used to buy things made for male characters that I didn't really have a use for to show my support, but when the quality is declining and tapering off, I can see that it didn't really do anything but give the message "I'll accept whatever you make."