Verno wrote on Feb 11, 2013, 14:59:
I think the kind of fundamental changes people are looking for will only come in an expansion. There's one scheduled for 2014 in that leaked Blizzard thing from last year. Diablo 2 was solid but nowhere near the classic it is considered these days until LOD arrived. I still have some hope.
Very true. In fact, vanilla D2 had a lot in common with D3: No exceptional uniques (so you were chasing fairly boring randomized yellows for the most part, just like D3), runewords didn't exist yet, nor gambling.. And the game was missing the (arguably) best act by far. LOD didn't really add or change much when you try to summarize it like that, but it improved the game tremendously all the same.
So yeah, I'm hopeful too. Though D3exp will have to make some pretty radical changes, starting with the ritual burning of the current item system and the whole game being designed around a global auction house. Every time I've started the game again to check out the new patches lately, I've been reminded of the ridiculous amount of time you're forced to spend in the broken wreck of an AH. And then I quit. And the phat loot, for all the bumps to drop rate, is still virtually non-existent. Oh sure, legendaries do drop, it's just that the chances of actually getting one with good rolls of the required core- and trifecta stats, is damn nigh impossible...
They've been moving in the right direction with recent patches, Paragon Levels (which I were initially highly skeptical of but turned out allright, though it's a bummer it's per-character and not per-account as it actively discourages playing multiple classes for all but the most die-hard nolifers)... At least it gives you something in return for the 20th run in a row without a single worthwhile drop. Then there's the craftables/grindables (hellfire ring + more to come in this patch) to work towards as well I suppose.. But when all is said and done, they're patching holes in the ceiling when they should just clear the rubble and start over. Then again, that would cause massive rage from the people who've invested countless hours and sometimes real money into the current garbage, so their only window for doing that is an expansion pack..
Oh, and dueling/brawling is a joke. I have no idea what took them so long with that. It seems about as balanced and refined as D2, i.e. not at all...