Ecency is technically better than condenser, which should create the discussion of whether we should sunset condenser and use Ecency with a different color-scheme for https://hive.blog. Personally, I think this would also set a visual statement that Hive is truly not Steem anymore, by discontinuing the first application Steem ever had and going with something that is leaner & much faster.
In that case, paying a whole team 130k to maintain the primary native social app on Hive is worth it.
RE: Roadmap for Hive-related work by BlockTrades in the next 6 months