I think anything that cancels out a build is pointless in Path of Exile
Spec'ing into life : grab a ton of nodes to get a decent health pool so you don't get one shot, have a couple points to put into damage.
Spec'ing into Energy shield: grab the 2 big Energy shield nodes and Chaos Inoculation = 11k+ Energy shield then grab every damage node on the tree.
Melee builds(80% of all the life builds) doesnt require too much investing in damage nodes on the tree so.. sometimes i want to push more dps on 2h melee build but simply cant do it efficiently simply because there is only 1 good crit wheel on the right side of the tree. Few hp wheels in ranger/shadow area would also be quite good
You right are correct I forgot about that, but i think there should be a few more crit nodes on that side of the tree that aren't staff. So that you aren't forced to pick assassin for crit and then also forced to go Chaos Inoculation to be most efficient on that side of the tree since most of your nodes are dex/int.
Using Marauder/Duelist with The Perfect Form + Arctic Armor, Essence Worm + Hatred/Grace/Haste/Determination/Vitality with Blood Magic might be quite nice.
It seems to me that adding in the Presence of Chayula and Esh's Visage they wanted to encourage people to use hybrid life and Energy shield but what landed up happening is they buffed the out of low life builds.
I think anything that cancels out a build is pointless and should give you a work around. i.e Hex proof, they should remove immunity, keep warding up to 100% but then give the players options to be able to lower that warding strength so that if they are running curses they aren't automatically trash and at the same time an item that makes you able to curse hex proof enemies like Cospri's Will will still be able to be used because it will make the warding 0%.
Same should be given to ignite, people build around it and then for some reason all the end game bosses are immune to ignite making the build you've made worthless for end game content, rather give them a resistance to it that you can work around it in an interesting way with either an item, jewel, new ascendancy tree for some class(wouldn't choose this option so you don't pigeon hole people onto a certain character) but the options are there.
Don't forget about blind as well, they could just reduce its effectiveness by percentages instead of making it worthless and mobs immune.