One things is "What community need" and other "Whats need the community". Really sad. Belive me, there are so many developers on private scene.
Example? Yeah
You dont know who i am, but i did this, on 99b
Lova ya!
So, Community is not dead. Just got Stuck.
You cant compare. Long time ago, there were a lot of "developers", Long time ago, all customs/dev were Just ".ini configs".
Now, all can make a lot of .ini configs, all can compile Deathway 1.00.18 decompilitation. But, now, there you go, 3 class of scene.
1- GameServer Side (Un-called Emulators, some still using Webzen Gameservers with Plugins Dll)
2- Client Side(Trying to add some >Ex700 own features to oldest version).
3- Both Side(Making magic).
Its hard, i know. But all those developers that u quoted, all, all, all keep doing magic on private scene. (Pinkof, Nemesis do)