for me its simple - its 1.2 - that means after release, if the game doesnt have basics, then it shouldnt be released
but it is and they can do both 
you do you, I do care about gender of my character, so I threw in my five cents
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I am not talking about the basics of the game I am talking about bug fixes and other things which more players are providing feedback on than your issue nothing else. And as I said if it takes them a very short time to do what you want then by all means have them do it and even release it with the next patch but I doubt it might be that easy and their focus should be on other things for now. At the end of the day the more players the game can retain/have the more successful it will be and that is what everybody wants but just because you made this as your high priority thing it does not mean the devs should make it too.
Oh boy… I guess I have bad news then, EHG and doing multiple things at once hasn’t ever been showcased, quite the opposite.
If they could then we would’ve gotten repeated updates for the item factions, gradually bringing them into a more proper state then at release… but that’s not the case.
We also would’ve gotten enhancements to the Nemesis mechanic, for example the weaver LP re-roll? That’s a prime candidate to put into that system in some way rather then separate.
EHG has the same issue which many many MMO and generally live-service game developers fall prey to, which is ‘forgetting old systems exist’. Or at least… they haven’t showcased they know they exist. Dungeons were trivialized since ages, instead of gradually improving on them to bring them to a nice state we got a skip… or a ‘have 100 lizards in it to make up for the crap experience by providing shiny’. That’s not improving on a mechanic, that’s diverting.
Also we’re not even remotely close to ‘a position to start focusing on things like that’. We’re missing 3 Acts in the campaign. We’re missing the mandatory re-work of the monolith system going along with it (as progression will be screwed then, entirely). We’re also missing smoothening the progression curve properly to keep the overal perception of difficulty and success in a properly slowly ramping up space instead of… well… all over the place.
We have issues related to the core exalted system causing end-game problem, set items haven’t been made ‘worthy’ but thrown away in favor of destroying them to slap onto base items. There’s a ton of those issues existing, and all of them need to be looked over first.
And then we haven’t even started about bringing the game into a live-service worthy timeframe of engagement yet, which is a pure content quantity issue. Aberroth and Uber-Aberroth are too far apart, nothing is filling that space to keep you engaged. We need side systems like the weaver tree… but with less focus on monoliths themselves but inherently a endeavour which lets us engage and progress there which reduces overall time ‘not really progressing’ on our journey to uberroth.
Also Uberroth can’t be the one and only end-game challenge available, it’s always been imperative to spread that out as early as possible, so 2-3 more designs in that direction to allow long-term engagement and variety to exist.
And then we’re reaching that point. I’m not talking without reason about a timeframe of roughly 5 years usually for Last Epoch to become a ‘fantastic’ game unless EHG does quadruple their output quantity while increasing their quality. I’m already planning around them getting their content pipeline better handled and doubling their rate of content delivery without any reduction in quality.
That’s how far we’re away 
You likely will, unless EHG drops the ball - once more - on their development process and properly prioritizing things.
In the whole gaming sector there’s no available proof that those options vastly increase engagement with the product, quite the contrary, as soon as discussions come up it tends to provide negative reviews soon, no matter if done or not done, the second those things currently prop up… you’re in a mess as a dev. Changing those things hasn’t led a single game to flourish yet… but focusing in those things has caused a myriad of games to fail. Because at the end of the day resources are limited and you forego vastly more important things to do that instead.
The only difference between this topic and others is that the group argumenting usually for it is very… very loud and argumentative without anything backing them. Hence you @Makaan89 provide a nice change in pace, stating your exact reasonings, not being zealous with it and generally calm and logical. Which is really nice and unusual as most of the time you get suddenly bombared with things like ‘mysogonist!’ or even worse. Yes, worse.
The last post related to it got nearly 100 upvotes, which is basically unseen in quantity. We got friggin mastery respec which was a highly contended topic already, which had a fracture of upvotes available.
So no, it’s not pushed into the abyss, but it’s exhausting to repeat the same arguments over and over again for why it would - currently - be actively damaging for the game while in the - sadly far I have to say - future it’ll be a boon. Just not currently.
The normative option for man is to play a female character actually given she’s relatively good looking, because then it’s eye-candy and enjoyable for our brain.
The alternative is a well defined male (on personally prefered and wished for figure) since it’s fantasy immersive for our brain.
Both exist as the primary factors, you’re an extreme outlier in perception mind you. Yes, you should be accomodated over time, absolutely, but only when otherwise it won’t lead to a detriment for development.
It’s the same reason as to why any other accessibility function isn’t included, and mind you… psychological perception outside of the norm is a accessibility function.
No, it’s just been proven that the overall engagement time of visual is vastly lower then the overall engagement time for mechanical aspects. Hence the focus is on mechanical aspects… and EHG does a great job enhancing visuals nonetheless, but it’s not their primary focus.
If you want examples of which games focused more on their presentation rather then their content? CoF: Black Ops Declassified, Resident Evil 6, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, Scorn, Anthem (Yeah, remember that? Good looking doesn’t do much after all by itself), Calisto protocol, Final Fantasy 13 (diverted from the expected franchise design-expectations, not a bad game if it weren’t FF), all the newer Assassins Creed outside of Black Flag, Death Stranding (visually gorgeous, story great, gameplay just blergh), Dragon Age: Inquisition.
On the other side of the spectrum we have games with bad graphics and massive focus on gameplay: Dwarf Fortress, Caves of Qud, Balatro, FTL, Dave the Diver, Barotrauma, Factorio, Avorion, Terraria, Trackmania, Core Keeper.
If I gotta pick between graphical presentation or between enjoyable gameplay then I’ll pick enjoyable gameplay. Because that’s why I’m playing games. Yes, there’s a few products out there combining both, but they’re exceedingly rare and their success is even more rare (because of the ridiculous costs coming with that). I mean… Cyberpunk 2077 was a great visual game, stunning designs! But the initial gameplay mechanics were ass, it took them up until the expansion to fix the core issues.
As to why Microtransactions work so well: First of, the majority of microtransactions are still functional and not vanity in games, only grander titles with good graphics can afford implementing a system based on vanity. And a large portion comes from it being novelty and cool ideas, often not even visually pleasing especially… but simply ‘a cool design’. ‘Look at that flaming hellhound mount! Cool, right?’ ‘I have a dragon flying by my side, awesome!’ or… ‘my character looks like the bringer of death himself, wow!’. Which yeah, all fine, and functional… but heck, nobody would nowadays say ‘Path of Exile 1 has great graphics!’, but nonetheless people buy MTX and supporter packs. Why? Because stuff’s cool and we’re really easy to please to be fair. As long as something isn’t made clearly as slob in the hopes to get some people to buy it it’s interesting for some.
Take into consideration which genre you’re talking about too. Looter ARPGs give a focus on equipment rather then the character. You hide the character under a full set of badass armor anyway. The focus is on items… on things… not on enhancing the look of the person underneath. You pay for presentation and not beautification there. Which is a important different concept when it comes to microtransactions.
Especially in the year 2025 developers should’ve learned to focus on specifics rather then making ‘mass slob’. You’re having it backwards there.
Play into strengths of a genre, make the most pronounced optimized gameplay you can and profit because it’s simply ‘fun’ and not just a shiny gimmick.
Why do you think ‘AAA’ titles fail left and right? Exactly because of the premise you’re presenting. ‘Make it to please everyone’. Nope, not the winner definitely, because you don’t have the resources to go that far in-depth with the specific aspects to make them highly enjoyable then. A game with great visuals, focusing on enhancing the character itself by unlocking designs and visual gear but simple playstyle will do well. One which tries to split the resources between playstyle and graphical aspects will likely fail.
LE is a mechanical game first and foremost, you provide as much graphics as you can without causing a detriment to the gameplay. Because looter ARPGs are primarily gameplay.
FPS input comes down to mechanical precision and reaction, as well as it on top of that causing motion sickness with lower FPS for many people with modern more fluent graphics as our brain struggles more to connect the dots between fantasy and realism.
It’s quite a different topic and vastly more universal then what you’re talking about.
With improvements to AI and hence the ability to cheapen modelling and design substantially though it’ll definitely come, and at that time I’ll be fully on your side since it won’t gobble up resources like mad.
But it sadly is.
And I agree with you.
Doesn’t mean we can ignore everything which should’ve been there 1.0 already in favor of adding things which are post-1.0