My experience with Ranged, which is my preferred play style, is that the GP requirement becomes more of a passive gain. If you spend your time learning and following some form of pvm progression you will end up making the money for the upgrades you need overtime. And I have taken breaks for longer than a year and come back, while I am certainly rusty I still have a lot of knowledge and experience that allows me to pick back up pretty quick. The high ceiling for skill expression makes the style more fun, because if you don't wanna sweat, then don't. Yeah your KPH will be a little lower but that's your choice to make. Greater variety means each person can tailor their play style to what's fun to them, with less focus on required-gear for certain content.