JPRG74:
Melee’s problem:
subject to AR and hit rate
enemies block/evade attacks
melee is single target
poor weapon damage scaling. This is why grief is BiS. It bypasses most of it.
most melee attacks are interruptible.
builds like fury druid need decrepify to work. The physical sunder is too much of a risk for an already squishy build(s). Most builds can’t afford to gear for phys damage reduction. Only flexible slot is belt.
Those fundamental problems you listed for melee are mostly addressed in the thread below for improving itemization. This thread is more geared towards buffing melee skills as I’m not convinced they will touch uniques, base weapon damage, adjust chance to hit formula, etc.
One of the best aspects of D2 is the breadth and depth of the itemization. I would argue it’s probably the best in the genre. However, it’s not perfect and think the game would benefit from a few tweaks to breathe new life into the item hunt while making trading more interesting. With that said, I hope the developers consider a patch dedicated to improve itemization.