why my excitement dropping loot was never worse than in poe1

PoE1 loot got ruined by adding gold. It was never perfect, but gold twisted the knife.

I hear you, but this game is not simple, and there are so many choices you can make that determine how loot drops.

One of the first things you need to know is that Increased Item Quantity plays a big role in you dropping something good. Yes, a bunch of junk drops esp. at higher map levels, but you need to use a Loot filter to get this junk off your screen.

Secondly, until you can run T16 maps, you do not get to reliably see good loot and currency.

Third, you can drop things and not realize its value, or how it can be improved with an Alt or other low value currency. So you need to use a Trade App like POE Overlay to value things that drop.

Four, you need to trade so you can make currency and buy items. Crafting is time consuming and expensive, and it is much easier to buy the things you need or want. To buy things, you need to sell things you don't need. You need to get some trade tabs and set up a Faustus store to sell items. Once you are selling things you don't want, you will accumulate currency and be able to buy things from Faustus and other players through their stores.

Yes this is complicated, yes you have to invest time into learning things, yes it will take you a while to get good at it.

No you shouldn't worry about any kind of expensive crafting or playing self found or hardcore. The marketplace helps you to sell and buy items. This is the key to the whole game and what you need to do to get currency and to buy what you need.

In case you think I'm full of it, and don't know what I'm talking about, I have 2 fully geared characters in Mirage that I have spent about 8o Div each buying gear and outfitting them. I run content that pays me 6-8 Div a day depending on how much I play. I have 440 Div sitting in my stash and I am not a Gambler.

It will take you a while to learn everything I spoke about. It might help you to join a guild to get some support for the things I mentioned. Hang in there, be patient, and best of luck.