While we’re at it, why are they making the stash bigger and cross-character? Learning how to mule is part of the learning experience.
Why are they making the graphics better? Learning to dodge with the choppy 2D graphics is part of the learning experience.
Diablo 2 wasn’t a perfect game, but the fact that it had some issues is no reason to fundamentally change the gameplay loop. Besides, the things you’re talking about aren’t even really ISSUES, they’re more like fantasies. Some of them aren’t even possible.
For example, you’re proposing that they A: “balance gearing” and B: "fix ‘features’ that promote spamming specific content. The only way to do that is to give everything an equal chance to drop every item while also having every item be equally usable.
Not only is this a terrible idea, but you ALSO want them to C: “improve drop rates of end-game gear.” How, exactly, is this possible if gear is balanced and can drop from anything? Are you proposing that characters only be able to get item drops for their class and that they all be equally usable for every build? What if your javazon only gets unique bows? How, exactly, do you want this resolved?
In a similar vein, you want them to “balance leveling” to disincentivize running specific content. In other words, you want all of the content to reward the same amount of experience for the same amount of time.
The only way to do that is to have experience linked to time logged in and nothing else. As long as experience is gained from killing things and there are places where more things can be killed, people will find a way to optimize it. That’s just how video games work.
Ultimately, your suggestions aren’t “improvements.” They’re just fundamental changes to the game, and almost all of them are found in Diablo 3, despite your apparent disdain for it.
Edit: also, if picking up gold isn’t worth it, why do you care whether or not auto gold pickup exists?
Edit 2: also also, Countess can only drop runes up to Ist, and only by a 0.1% chance, if memory serves. That’s hardly “OP runes.”