Thoughts on Early game and Campaign : drop rates and crafting. Casual Player Perspective

Intro
So, I am a very casual player, only just participated in the Endgame content for the first time in this latest season of POE2. I have played through the campaign 4 time, a different class each time. I really enjoyed each seasons gimmick and the fact that every map throughout the acts had/has abyss/vaal vaults in them, it felt very engaging, sad that the abyss became virtually nonexistent in the acts this season. I find the change to some of the currencies and items, the different tier systems, very interesting and full of potential.

The Bad
Currently, things suck. From my perspective as new POE player and someone who doesn't like the current vibe of needing to power through the acts to get to the real game of Endgame content. I "play" with friends that are POE vets, some have played since the very beginning of POE, and their guidance and my experience says the campaign is a slog, it sucks to play through, you have to get through it as fast as possible if you want to participate in the Market, and gearing through the acts at the start of the season is an awful experience. unless you get super lucky. As someone who wants to actually play with my friends and not just exist and watch them play the game. being carried through Endgame is not engaging especially when that's the only part of the game worth playing. I realize that if I just ran through the acts it wouldn't be that much of a problem, but I find the story interesting, I like opening lootable objects, trying out the various skill/support gems while playing the actual game not using a theory crafting site, and I like crafting gear, all of this is not encouraged and basically punished in the current state of the game.
Another thing a friend of mine brought up is guilds and guild stash tabs. This ties into a complaint I have about the in-game trade system. Currently you can't engage with the player market until you're in act 4, I believe, and I think this is pointless, I understand the reasoning behind the restriction but I don't like it, it's not fun less engaging. If people paid for market tabs let them use them, I haven't so I have to trade the old school way which isn't effected by this restriction. This means the only convenient way to get better gear in the early game is to be in a guild, which may not be great for those without friends idk. Something I don't understand is with guilds being this awesome cooperative feature why are the stashes for the guild so much more expensive? I contributed $20 to my guild and only later found out how little that was worth towards the tabs. If I had known I would have bought more personal tabs, not fun and probably not buying any more.

Suggestions
1)I noticed while playing the druid, while leveling through the acts, the talismans rotated through various types at leveling milestones. Why? Each variant has fixed value or range, except for the one that has higher physical damage, so the only stat that changes at the level milestones in the damage range. I only wanted to use certain variants for my build, the rest were useless, I'm probably not the only person experiencing this. Would it not make since to offer all variants at all levels so all playstyles are viable?
2)A way to improve the acts is to adjust the loot drop item level to match the level range of the act itself. It's not engaging to see every item dropped be leveled for the previous act and every item in the shop be lower than your current level, often lowest levels of the acts range. Endgame has a similar problem with shop item levels. Why not simply set shop item levels to current level +/- 1 level?

3)So...this idea probably might not be well received, but I hate how crazy the currency market is as a casual player getting to the Endgame "late". Granted, showing up late means getting better gear cheaper, but getting into crafting and joining the market as a whole is harder. This idea is mainly focused on improving the early game experience using systems that already exist but may impact the Endgame market idk.
Regarding the currencies that have 3 tiers: Rename into Shards of => Greater Piece of => Orb; Shards can be placed into the Reforging Station with a chance to be turned into a Greater Piece, if it doesn't than the station outputs 1-3 Shards, and the same process going from Greater Piece to Orb; increase the availability/drop chances/drop quantities; when Disenchanting receive shards for each modifier on the item(1st mod gives Transmutation Shard, 2nd gives Augmentation Shard, 3rd & 4th give Regal Shards, and the 5th-6th give Exalt Shards); much like the desecration items set level limit/requirements, maybe add a 4th Perfect/Pristine Ord that works like the Ancient bones that are rare Endgame drops that might keep the market in a happier state.
I suggest these changes so that simple crafting is more accessible in the early game and encouraged. In the current state it seems like saving your Exalt and just dealing with subpar gear is the way to go. "Crafting is not worth it in the early game," is the advise I've been given and that's a major part of the game that isn't "worth it" until you've finished the painful grind of the campaign, not engaging. This season I decided to be more aggressive with early game crafting, partly due to me thinking the vaal vault workbenches were use it or lose it and I really liked that idea of not being able to remove the currency and there being a ton of workbenches. Now there are barely any benches and they basically drops, kinda boring.
4)Another way to improve the crafting experience in the early game is with essence. Essence in general seems very rare currently and the stats that the lesser and regular essence give are only worth it during the campaign. If essence monster(s) were guarantied on every map and it wasn't a pack but a random mob, potentially more, essence would be more available for early game crafting making campaign more engaging. Players would have more agency and control over the strength of their build, the campaign wouldn't feel like a slog, and new players could actually engage with mechanics in a meaningful way.
How I think this could be balanced: the max tier of the essence is based on the act level range; if the random mob is Normal it will only drop a Lesser, Magic can drop up to a regular essence, Rare can drop up to a Greater and a Unique could drop up to a Perfect, and for the Rare & Unique if they drop regular or lesser they could drop multiple; give essence the same reforging mechanic I suggested for currency, up to Greater; allow other currency to enhance the essence mob, i.e. an Alchemy increasing the number of essence dropped or turning a Normal/Magic mob into a Rare, or a Chance could turn the mob into a Unique or erase it.




I think there is a lot of potential with this game. As a new player, I have not been enjoying the type of grid that the game currently is. I see a lot of fun sounding things that I've never experienced because by the time I find myself in the Endgame I'm bored or burnt out. Then only thing I have to look forward to is being carried/power leveled by my friends or going it alone like I did this season. I have finally started to engage with the various systems and there is fun to be had, but it really feels like the focus is on Endgame. I feel like if crafting is more accessible, the currency and essence more common, than the early game would be more engaging, probably easier as is so restoring some of that original difficulty would be another suggestion, and I don't think it will be to bad on the market either. IDK I just like having fun and I think this could be fun.