I joined the server about 3 months before the ladder reset. Like any new player that joins now, I noticed that everyone was already geared to the hilt and wanted ridiculous amounts of hrs in exchange for the items I needed to trade for. I then decided to go it alone and find a way to progress without trading. Its definitely doable. I was playing a Zealadin at the time and was able to farm gear starting in the normal difficulty level inferno portals of act 5. When my gear permitted, I went to nightmare infernos. Eventually I was able to farm hell difficulty. It takes time but there is a path laid out for new players to gear their toons without trading. In my opinion the act 5 inferno portals have been nerfed in terms of difficulty and can be easily farmed now with minimal gear levels. Anyone remember the corpse explosion mobs? That shit sucked

There are plenty of build guides and content guides available for anyone who is willing to try a different approach to what they feel has been futile for them. Let me finish by saying that if you feel that an anni charm or a torche is going to put you over the top gear wise and suddenly make endgame content accessible that wasn't before, you are in for a huge let down