I believe so too.. I think 2018 will not end without this happening. Bitcoin's value will skyrocket exponentially with the launch of the lightning network.
The lightening network is exactly what this market needs right now for the price to rise and for us to go into the next bull market. The market has so much more to do and as OP said we are just at the beginning of it, we are the early birds which means we will make the most, once that lightening network goes into effect there will be a price hike which might trigger the next bull market.
Yes, bitcoin and crypto as a whole is still considered in its infancy stage its been what less than 10 years since bitcoin was release so it is still fairly young compare to other well established assets out there.
I agree that LN (Lightning Network) will be a good trigger to reignite the ecosystem again. I'm pretty sure that everyone is waiting for the launch day of LN and then we will see its full potential for used thus resulting in the market getting into a range of like $15K-$20K or maybe breaking all-time-highs again.