I am not making claims - I am telling you facts, confirmed by the Devs, regarding player retention rates. Steve said the same thing. Steve is the longest serving CSM member in history, so he’s been in the room for all these discussions. If you don’t believe me, then believe him.
There is no rational reason why CCP would have made these changes to highsec if they believed that it was reducing the number of players in the game. At least recently, if not before, when they’ve made major changes that have resulted in large numbers of players quitting, they’ve reversed those changes, as we saw with Blackout.
I’m sorry, but you are letting your personal playstyle and idea of fun cloud an objective view as to what most players want. You are not in the majority when it comes to highsec PvP.