"Meaningful combat", player types and seasonal play

PoE2 has a rather slow progression, both when it comes to speed, length of campaign and gear acquisition. There's nothing wrong with that, we all want different things from the game.

But PoE2 is designed around seasonal play, ladder resets and new mechanics every league - historically focused on endgame. That is what is promised and what GGG's economic model is built around. We saw it this "league"; players complaining that "their build" was much worse. What if they wiped/reset? Would we see the same numbers?

So my question is; all these people praising the slower gameplay, tanky white mobs, combination gameplay, a lengthy campaign and scarcer gear acquisition; are those the kind of players that will return every league, spending countless of hours on the game while also buying a pack?

As I wrote in another thread; when Jonathan was asked by Ziz about the game being designed around players spending hundreds of hours every league or when he asked about how long the campaign is 'supposed to be', Jonathan provided some half/non-answers. And of course he did, he wants 'everyone' to play.

I just can't see the length of campaign, the slow(er) gameplay and scarcer gear acquisition work in the long run, league after league. And as their monetization model is built around hype and people returning every league, I think GGG will be forced into some hard choices regarding game design, when all of these "story mode players" are done. And no, I'm not dismissing those players, but in a F2P game in the long run? I just don't see it.