system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Hotpot is boring and overpriced.

I've been to (Chinese) hotpot a few times. Everything going into the broth comes out tasting bland, simply boiled and unflavoursome, not really being flavoured by the soup. All the tasty ingredients cost a fortune, and all end up tasting the same once they go in the broth.

And, yet, there's hundreds of hotpot places around, and they all seem popular and busy. What am I missing?! Why am I paying a fortune for bland soup and cheap ingredients! 

The only tasty things I've had were dipping sauces and side dishes - but they weren't tasty because of the hotpot. The hotpot simply meant I had to wait longer to have something flavourless to go with them.

I genuinely think I'm missing something important. But what is it?
gpt
First, if you're not getting all you can eat hotpot, you're not getting the real hot pot experience. Once you can get the whatever you want without thinking about the cost, it's a lot better, and not necessarily even more expensive.

Second, what kind of broth are you getting? Most quality hot pot places have a variety of broths that vary in intensity. 

But most importantly, this seems to be highly relative to where you live. Are you somewhere that's known for authentic Chinese food?