>With DFO you'd literally have to spend hundreds if not thousands of real cash to make farming for epics not take literal months if not longer.
DFO didn't have a cash shop, so what the fuck are you talking about?
It was an oldschool sub style game, like WoW, or Everquest.
Also, DFO getting top gear didn't take too long at all, a private server just relaunched, and a group already is able to make inferno armour.
>When I want to start getting into end-game PVE just how expensive will it be go properly gear up to clear end-game content?
You'll need to be fully geared to clear end game content. To give you an idea of the cost.
A good PvE weapon (not the best) is a Yuria. To buy that at +15, it costs around 20-30 million. Prices might have dropped since last update, but I've stopped playing, so I'm not sure.
Now, you have to get every single armour piece to +15, so its around that cost for each armour piece.
Then you need your jewelry, which is even more expensive if you want the pri version of it.
But wait, THERES MORE!
They released +20, so if you want to be viable for world bosses, you'll need that shit too, and the new content will require that better gear. That shit is so expensive, only the top guilds have it. It'll cost hundreds of millions for a single thing, maybe even more.
Now, you CAN fight mobs without the absolute best gear. It'll take a long ass time, and it'll be hard, but it should be doable. You'll need at least +15 everything though.
The problem is this game is 100% gear dependent. Play skills/level don't do much in PvE, just your accuracy rating.