prices are absolutely ridiculous these days but it's only if you're caught up in having the best componentry, alot of the low-end/mid-end bikes have good enough components for 99+ percent of riders these days (maybe more actually, there's alot of people who don't really know how to ride bike but definitely know how to buy the image).
fact of the matter is that even the low-end parts on entry level "quality" bikes have surpassed the performance of high end stuff from even a couple years ago. you might pay a slight weight penalty but big deal, bikes are already really light these days.
If you get caught up in needing the latest and greatest bike/components, worry about having matching kit and showing up to the trailhead in a new Tacoma then yes, mountain biking is very much a really lame sport.
But if you just get a bike and ride it and tune all that shit out mountain biking is still as awesome as it always was.