TLDR: Ladder should not have exclusive gear, runewords or cube recipes. All items should be available to Ladder, NL, and SP upon introduction into the game. Allow players to choose a preferred gamemode(s) without having to sacrifice gearing opportunities during gameplay.
There are many players such as myself who celebrated when D2R was released with all Ladder Only items and cube recipes available to both Ladder and Non-Ladder. It was a welcomed change that many had advocated for.
The actual gameplay loop, as well as the game rules, are the same for Ladder and NL - Create and level your character through the 3 game difficulties, growing stronger through stats, skill points, and gear, completing the same quests in the process.
Ladder provides a coordinated restart of the character pool so everyone starts out on the same level with zero gear and levels. Ladder provides many players a reason to revisit the leveling and gearing experience, with many partying opportunities since everyone on Ladder has started over. Ladder provides for a race to 99 metric with leaderboards.
In contrast, NL does not have a restart. Players can choose when to play with their established characters, or create new characters without worrying about losing progress or contend with an game-imposed time constraint.
The main difference is about timing, not gameplay. There are many players that play Ladder and many others that play NL. The decision to play Ladder or NL is a gamer’s choice, as neither choice is superior to the other, regardless of what the elitist claim. Yes, I know that there is a slight difficulty difference between Ladder and NL from OG D2, but it is not enough to factor into this discussion.
Since the Ladder and NL difference has nothing meaningful to do with the leveling and gearing experience, why should gear be unavailable to drop or be created in NL? Having gear be available NL does not negatively affect the experience of the Ladder player, does it?
Yes, I am aware of Ladder items moving to NL at the end of a season but the essence of D2 (and hopefully any worthy ARPG) is to see items drop while playing the game. Many of us did not buy D2 or D2R to play a trading game, nor should trading be the only path forward for specific gear in an ARPG.
In response to the anticipated Ladder incentive crowd, Ladder should not use gear incentive that directly impacts the gameplay, alienating the NL community. If you want a coordinated reset with all the experience Ladder offers, play Ladder. If not, play NL or Single Player.
Regarding development time, implementation should only require de-selecting the checkbox for all items that denotes Ladder only.
The only exception I foresee would be items such as Sunder Charms that the dev team would prefer be limited to a season to allow for dev iteration if necessary before the item is released to the NL/SP community. These items should be few and far between.