In a way, I welcome the falling out of fashion of mountain biking, and a reduction in fair-weather / all the gear, no idea mountain bikers. Selfish as it is, and probably even pretentious, I'd prefer the MTB scene to be more like the way I remember / experienced it back in 93-94. Before the sport became so mainstream that every second teenager decided to try their hand at it, oftentimes approaching it as an extreme sport, rather than as the endurance sport with extreme sport elements that many of experienced it back then (and still do now).
I'll be honest, I've never really got over seeing 'my' scene being subverted in the 90s, but I reckon all things considered there are plenty of benefits for the mainstreaming of mountain biking, including how easy it is now to find clubs and groups to ride with, and how many unfit riders there are around to make yourself look good on club rides and marathon events. I'd also say that technological advances in mountain bikes have come about faster, thanks to all the extra, high spending enthusiasts over the years.