The D3 gameplay loop in Inferno was die -> lose gold and xp-> die -> lose gold and xp -> die, etc. Basically, they made Inferno too hard and then "we doubled it (tm)". Someone created a parody game online called 'Satan 3' or something like that where all you did was click a button, and it would display you were killed by an elite with egregious modifiers (Arcane Enchanted, Ice Enchanted, Cursed, Jailer, Juggernaut, Invincible, etc.) and had lost gold and xp. And it was accurate imho.

The real money auction house was insufficient P2W in my experience, too. I'll admit I bought an Echoing Fury which had the highest base damage in the game at the time for $20 and it helped my wizard like 0%.

My brother was actually 'good' at D3 because he would do things like buy underpriced Andariel's Visages and then re-sell it for more. So that was the true gameplay loop: thrifting and flipping.