I personally wouldn’t mind pissing off people if it’s for the sake of having a better game in the end
People are too emotionally attached to nostalgia and status quo that they don’t want to change even if it’s for the best
But I don’t think needing spirit would be needed if Blizzard reworked the upgrade recipe to also upgrade the stats of the Unique into new higher version
With this you could have items that posses a real competition to overpowered 1.10 runewords like hoto and spirit
For example:
From
Hexfire exceptional
+140-160% Enhanced Damage
Adds 35-40 Damage
+3 To Fire Skills
Level 6 Hydra (36 Charges)
Ignore Target’s Defense
Fire Resist +25%
10% To Maximum Fire Resist
To
Hexfire elite
+200-300% Enhanced Damage
Adds 70-80 Damage
+4 To Fire Skills
10% chance to castLevel 30 Hydra on hit
Ignore Target’s Defense
Fire absorb 15%
This could already be an interesting alternative from spirit and hoto for fire build and open up attack/caster options because of the +4 potentially compensating for fcr
Apply such changes to plenty of items with different themes and you’ll get a strong diversity of items that challenge the almighty runewords
The key imho would be higher skill level but damage type specific, not repeating Peter hu mistake of making them all “All skill”