Well, kind of. In practice despite the faster release schedule quite a few features have been in incubation for years. Most features that people could identify as favorite have been talked about for nearly 5 years now and are still not targeted to get a stable API yet.
That is true, the cost of mistakes for a platform used so broadly is high which is why folks working on the platform don't rush things that aren't ready or don't feel natural yet.
That said, the faster release cadence has done more than just cut the "wait time for next release" down. For example, the preview/incubator system has allowed the team to get features into releases without being final (see JEP's 11 and 12, or [1]).
And each of the innovation projects like Loom, Panama, and Valhalla, are able to release features incrementally. In fact, it could be said that something like Valhalla wouldn't even be possible without a faster release cadence.
I could go on and on with anecdotal stories about faster pace of innovation, less energy spent on releases, etc....
