Ascended realms HP: grind beyond measure

I am playing on champion and any and all ambition to play on nightmare is slowly disappearing. Not because it is (too) hard, but because there seems to be a fundamental error in design. Grinding is not fun, yet this is exacxtly what we get.

Insane HP on creatures = fights become a grind. (They are not hard, I can basically stand and soak damage.)

Required T4 xp: beyond insane. Again, grind, grind, and more grind.

Fighting three wolves for 15 minutes is not fun. It is just a growling and snarling roadblock that casually soaks 50K hits several times in a row.

The problem here is simple. The HP counts jump by a lot but the tools to deal with that HP do not really improve. The upgrade bench makes a much smaller difference than the change in HP. Also, the required T4 xp to actually upgrade everything runs into uncomfortably high numbers. A single upgrade to purple takes 225 xp. Meaning one needs to clear 3 defenses or 6 infestations. Have a look at how many there on a given map. Not to mention the time it takes to do so.