Fundamentally D2 is the better game because the journey is better, your characters levels mean something, you can feel your character grow in power in D2, in D3, you can’t at all… The itemization is better in D2 and at one point, D2 was a great game… circa v1.10…
Once v1.10 hit, the game was a flea wees flop-house… most people quit and botters took over. The game used to be a great game but yeah, once Hell mode became ridiculous to run without a Hammerdin… the game became a piece of crap.
Most people don’t remember the changes this game went through over time but I sure as hell do, and yeah, patch v1.09 was the best “balanced” version of D2… every class had at least 3 builds that could solo Hell mode and didn’t require ludicrous equipment like Enigma either… because it didn’t even exist.
Hardcore players made the game the way it is because they demanded more of of a challenge… The dev’s made a mistake listening to them though and ramped up the difficulty to 11… Complete elemental immunities on Hell mode became a thing, some bosses with TWO elements on them… Hammerdin was and still is the only viable class that can destroy Hell mode without breaking a sweat…
D2 has been a bad game for a very long time, the game needs to be re-balanced and re-rolled backed to patch v1.09 for build / diversity sake. V1.14 is in a very bad state right now balance wise… like it’s damn near unplayable on Hell mode without grouping.
And yes I agree with some of the things you said, but you’re looking at it in a very black / white manner… there’s more to it than comparisons.
First of all, your gear helps in Diablo 2, it really does define you in D3… You can clear normal mode on D2 naked with a level 50+ character on maxed skills alone… try doing that in D3… impossible. And again, you’re only thinking of patch v1.10+ … engima didn’t exist in v1.09 because it didn’t have to… your character ran on uniques and they worked fine.
The difference here is that with D2 black markets, you knew what you were getting, the itemization was already fleshed out, Unique items defined your character and you knew that by equipping [x item] it would give you [y result] and it was the best possible result.
D3 was in it’s infancy and people were being abused / exploited financially with the RMAH… the game was in an ever changing evolutionary state and it was insanely risky to use the RMAH… it’s not risky at all to buy items in D2 off of black market websites because you know [x item] is BiS for [y build]… you KNOW what you’re getting and you’re satisfied with it.
Agreed that the loot system was garbage in D2 in multiplayer, but that’s where you trained your brain to realize not to expect anything out of grouping games… grouping was for leveling, soloing was for loot hunting… end of discussion. If they add personal loot in to D2, it will destroy the economy in days.
I’ll do you one better, circa v1.10 most builds don’t even work on Hell mode… there were some amazing and unique builds in v1.09… like melee sorceress… it was a thing. Or even throw barbarian… pretty dope and unique but that all got erased. Also people hate D3’s end game because it’s all about set pieces… do you have the full set? Yes? You win… end of game.
If you don’t buy your gear from black market websites or use bots… good luck ever seeing “the end game” in D2… it doesn’t exist and is theoretically impossible to achieve alone, online… end game would be getting perfect BiS gear for your build, maxing out to level 99, getting your Gheed’s Fortune / Annihilus Charm / Perfect Torch… okay… see you in a decade buddy. 