I hope you’re right. I’m future proofing anyway by preferring DRM-free stores when possible.

Sure that’s reasonable at the moment. And while it seems Gaben would never sell out, he is going to die at some point. What’s going to happen to steam / valve after that?

Personally I enjoy the complicated character building of Grim Dawn way more than the item hunting. This also means I will play a host of characters and eventually complete item sets and have the resources for crafting after half-completed character number 86. For me the grinding is mostly a test on the efficiency of my build.

Maybe look into Warhammer: Chaosbane. It has a point system that superficialy looks similar to Grim Dawns devotions or Path of Exile, but in reality it’s super simple. And while you do collect items, they don’t matter as much as in other ARPGs. The flip side is that it’s kinda hard to fail because the game is so simple.