If no one wants life gear, it's very cheap.

That's why I said pay attention to what drops. There's tons.

I think you're trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Here's a real example, I can do tons:

For a second character in Legacy, I made a Gladiator. I did not buy any items, and he was over 7k hp, with max-block 78/78.

that's not how the game works and as it stands right now also won't with path of life 3.0.

It's how it worked for most of it's life-time, and changed after 2.0 with the beginnings of the ES/clear-speed meta.

It's by reading, going back to that some, yes. Absolutely.

I think the misconception is newer players seem to only know this newer meta, of blow up everything instantly etc. and that is honestly not how it has been.

The original scope of PoE was an arpg to kick your ass. It said this pretty much on their homepage.

AW Totems or anything meta has always been expensive, but that doesn't mean there aren't other possibilities. The meta is always ridiculous.

In Breach, I sold a Bino for 1.5 ex first week, then the next it was like 20c. Look at the Nghamu's axe after mathils vid, which was a life build, then the following week when it was back cheap again.

I actually find this interesting, as ES being the meta for a long time, and the items being insanely expensive in regards to it (fertile mind what? It was garbage tier... etc) yet you don't complain about those? How much were your 30% ES boots?

There are tons more life options than there is ES and the life-based gear is much more lax.

Don't worry.