I have definitely rerolled items in D3 a hundred plus times before getting what I wanted.
And it was essentially free to do so.
Imo the bigger issue is; it should not be realistic to always get what you wanted on an item through rerolls. The increased cost does a somewhat decent job at this.
Instead, if you dont get the stat you wanted on an item, you need to go out in the game world and find another item. Not just rerolling the same old item forever after, kinda ruining the basic loot hunt concept.
Rerolling should just feel like a little extra chance to maybe be lucky with an item, instead of the core way to get items.
I like the increasing cost system in D4, but since it apparently does not send a clear enough message to players about the intention, maybe this one time a heavy handed solution is better; cap the rerolls to 5 times per item.
Then you can add a few more affixes per roll, to increase the odds for example.
Indeed.