It's definitely sad to see it, but the concept of faucets the way it was when crypto was booming is simply non-existent today.
You are 99% correct. Faucets still do exist, but are mainly used on testnets and newer networks. Without it, it just wouldn't work.
Same thing happened with BTC years ago, they had to give it away freely to get adoption, and in return they got user testing and some feedback.