If you had been in a good guild, you would have been able to find trades. I bet a lot of those people in the hood would have been able to help you with trades too, if you had bothered to ask. I'm in PE, still got plenty of goods from all the eras below me that I don't need. You could have participated in GvG for medals (even ghosting would have been sufficient, given that you probably didn't have much competition on your LMA tower, and given that ghosting is now virtually cost free, there is even less excuse to not utilize it) or worked on the continental map. Your need for BPs would have been cured by either a guild or a proper friend list to motivate. I also doubt that there wasn't at least one player with a LMA building still on their yard for sentimental value. And there had to have been GBs that you could have given your fps to to not only earn desired BPs but possible FP packages later.
Moral of the story, if you're in the wrong hood it absolutely affects you. But if you're a smart player who utilizes all the game's functionality, that effect is minimal to zero.