I don't think nostr's appeal is or ever was dependent on zaps. They're just another kick ass feature.
Discussion
I wonder how many people care about the opaque censorship/deboosting. Clearly a thing with this crowd but I have no clue as to what % of the population knows or cares
There's a lot of frustration with Twitter censorship in the American conservative community, so I think the potential appeal is pretty broad. It also should appeal to classical liberals who actually care about free speech.