One compromise might be to put in more buyable preps that have negative affects as well. Fillets are a great example. They're great in certain situations or for certain characters, or when you have a healer around. Now make them a little pricey and not very high level, and you've given players without a lot of prep knowledge a way to be more competitive. This might appeal to people like me who, more often than not, would rather not prep than spend the time waiting for repops or going from area to area on my "prep route" 2-3 times per session.

But hey, the people who are willing to spend a large portion of their sessions getting preps, gold, etc. probably deserve to whoop those who don't/can't for their efforts.

Don't spend my $0.02 all in the same place.