[2021] Last Epoch's Endgame is lacking

The game gets praised a lot (rightfully) and the devs are doing an amazing job.

But I'm missing something that keeps me going. Also none of my friends plays the game longterm. There is nothing in the game which is rare, what u can strive to get/achieve. I know really good items are hard to get, but that's not because they are rare, it's just because everything is highly random.

I know the game is still in beta and there is still endgame content planned, including legendary items, but despite all the praise the game is getting, the average player count seems to be dropping.

Do you like the current item system? Do you have lvl 100 characters you are still playing?