Oh I've tested it myself. I've used swine,foe,modrip,m88,macmahoon+++ and two times imk2 in the past. There is no doubt whatsoever that less eco generated more loot. Long time however eco is winning and that's just what they have explained now black on white.
MA revealing that the efficiency matters 7% of the loot calculation kinda confirms that ^^ So if you go with as low eco as you can you will most likely, in the long run, get 7% less return than someone with maxed efficiency.
1. Less eco generated more loot in 1.0 BUT not proportional to eco decrease. Dramatically out of proportion. Nowadays the increase in tt loot is more corelated to the decrease in eco. Still a losing scenario, but in no way "it was exactly the case". It is directly correlated to the loot being tied to cost to kill, not to hp of mob. You're about the only person on the forum which denies this, which was also stated by MA "departure from the once-dominating model of DPP".
2. The impact of efficiency being 7% doesn't mean the actual tt result will differ with 7%.
On topic, there is still value for sure in the items, but it is impossible to asses the true value. When these items were influencing the tt return most of us simply didn't knew. Because to test these things it requires quite a big bankroll and access to quite a few gear scenarios, which is out of reach for 95% or more of players, is tied strictly to cash not to skills.
On the forums, we were just getting the usual bullshit of "nobody profits tt". When they were, in fact, profiting tt.
So, the scenarios in which these items are truly shinning now didn't and won't appear public. When and if somebody will guess/succesfully test the winning combination, will keep it for own use, as is normal, with such systemic info. They for sure still have value and will be decided by market, in the end.
If we're simply not bullshited in public, it wouldn't be the first time. The scenario that a society of ubers sell all their belongings in same time is unlikely, because it would mean they collapse the prices one for each other. We have 0 confirmed sale for now, and I will rather consider all active sale threads and so on as drama and smoke screen.