You can get pretty solid resists without rare gem gear, though. If the devs go with classic-like resists, 100 is enough to resist most casts and 150 is near-immunity. My dwarf warrior on VZTZ 2.0 (were my screenshots on the other page from 2.0? I never found out if there was another wipe after that one, but I've heard about VZTZ3.0) had the following gear less than two weeks in:
2x
Earring of Magic Reflection (+10)
White Gold Necklace (+7)
Split Paw Hide Mask (+5)
Skull-shaped Barbute (+10)
2x Wolf's Eye Golden Bracelet (+14)
Mithril Vambraces (+5)
Bloodstained Mantle (+10)
Dwarven Ringmail Tunic (+8)
Mithril Greaves (+5)
Runed Bone Fork (+10)
With the natural 30 svm for dwarf and +25 for being a level 50 warrior, that's 139 unbuffed svm. A rogue or hybrid can wear mostly the same gear and sit around 100. Add a +40 buff and you're pretty well off with fairly modest gear.