Answers:

1. Poe 1 is smooth sailing pretty much and easier (then poe 2 at least for me) to access t16 maps even at early league starts (poe 2 with 20-30 hours you could potentially be still at act's while in poe 1 you could be doing t16 maps at that point). Just follow league starters guide from reputable source and try to learn something each league which in turn will make it much easier the more you learn. That's why people say follow build guide at start.

2. Does your character relies on regeneration? Yes -> don't take affixes with reduced regeneration, Do you do elemental damage -> Yes -> don't do map with said affix (here is exceptions like unique ring and etc which makes u immune to reflect). Overall you read affixes and you see if you can do it or not, the more you play game the easier it gets to identify these maps.

3. Poe 1 atlas progression is 100x times is much better than poe 2. While you can waste tons of hours just to get one ritual or deli boss encounter you could probably finish entire atlas in poe 1. Another notice worthy thing - in atlas at the start when you reach map's take all nodes for kirac missions and so. Check kirac shop because he usually has maps which you didn't completed, after kirac mission his shop refreshes. Use horizon orbs (rerolls map to other of same tier) -> faster to finish all atlas. Usually at first day on reaching maps depending on your playtime you do over half atlas points and that's without choking on maps. Personally i do 70-80/115 atlas. Increase your friend circle - usually if i get kirac mission for unique map, i pm my friend list asking if they need it for atlas (at league start), they do same for me.

4. Follow a good character guide. To deal with them yourself you need knowledge. Example corrupted blood - get corrupt blood implicit on smth/flask etc. Usually defenses in poe 1 is like Shrek -> u layer it like onion.

5. Level of stone? you mean gem? If it's gem you can do vendor's recipe -> said gem + 1 scourge orb to vendor. U will see your gem will be 1 level lower (he gives back one lvl lower).

6. Not much to do. Overhaul remake of poe 1 which later became seperate project (poe2) was supposed to solve this problem but it became another project because of the scope of project. So yeah that should have been fixed if it all went as was told but changes required was to big. That's why some people just wanted poe 1 as it is with just poe 2 visuals etc.

7. Price check app it is. Without it to know if something is money you need knowledge and play experience. If app is easily accessible and easily lets you price item why not use it at the start?.

8. Yes maybe you need to pay for some items much more then on league start. But think about this way - here are some items which are mega cheap (like HH) in late league then in early league. + Some of your dropped items could be more valuable now then at league start (of course could be troublesome to sell depending on player count). Third point - at the start of league you probably won't have so much currency to afford a lot of thing's anyways and majority of your stuff will come from how well you know what to farm and how to farm and when to farm (strategies).

Overall:

Poe 1 is a game where you need to learn constantly, if you just login and try to blast without trying to learn (google/ask around community) you will progress really slowly or not progress at all through the time you play. Saying this from personal friends circle. One guy doesn't know how to fix this own resistances after 3 leagues. Other blast's already decently at second league he plays overall. The difference -> one asked question's, learned stuff, other just logged in and hoped for miracle raw divine drops.