Nope, there is nothing particularly new and I don't recall the last time that there was. It isn't dead, this is just the nature of Graal.

Stefan and the higher-ups who manage the game have never, ever been actively involved in developing actual content for the game, and have had the laziest and easiest job for years and years, depending on players to provide constant content. I don't know if Xor gets paid, but I'm pretty confident that the staff beneath him don't and that's clearly a problem.

Minecraft follows the same model as Graal. Notch created Minecraft, which is a game that allows players to create their own server and game within the game. You see how actively developed that game is. The more important point is that there are extremely popular servers with dedicated administrators because hosting a Minecraft server is actually rewarding and profitable.

TL;DR: What do you expect? The administration behind the game itself have never taken care of the game.