I am happy to answer it. Balance, (small) loot, and content changes do not impact what the core D2 experience was defined, by blizzard, to be. The quote, possibly paraphased:
“Diablo is at its core a game about killing monsters. Every monster kill is a chance at the slot machine…”
I am gonna tag in MissCheetah, who may remember where that quote is from, because I do not, but it is out there.
Edit: i dont know how to do this on mobile. @misscheetah i summon thee!