what is up with players bitching at you for not having a hunters machete? on a few champions like xin i don't get it because i find it to be pointless or not as powerfull as building other items and yet i still get bitched at for starting boots or something instead of the machete... last game i got boots instead of a machete and everyone refused to give me a leesh because of it
Because in order to keep up on gold with everyone else, you need the machete. It gives you 15 bonus gold per large monster kill and it's upgraded version gives 30.
You'll already be behind on gold as is because of how the jungle is this season, not taking it is basically shooting yourself in the foot.
By not taking machete:
So essentially you take more damage clearing, clear slower, get less gold per camp, have to spend more gold for your first item, and can't upgrade smite for an additional slow/MSBuff or TrueDamage/DamageReduction.
There isn't really any starting item that can make up for what Machete offers; everything else is pretty much inefficient in comparison.
Also, looked at your 2/17/3 Jungle Xin Zhao game and I'd have to recommend taking the jungle masteries in the defensive tree for faster, safer clears.
