Blizzard gain a flash of insight?

[Lissa]

The problem with D3 that D1 and D2 did not share is that you hit the level cap and then it's strictly an item hunt and getting your ass handed to you until you get the gear so your ass isn't handed to you as often. In D1 and D2, getting to cap was something that took a long, long time and while making your way to cap, you were doing the item hunting as well. This is why D1 for me had a lot of longevity whereas D3 is starting to fade after getting two toons (DH and Barb) to cap and just becoming annoyed with the item hunt since you need very specific affixes on your gear to progress (typically main stat, vit, then depending on build, things like crit hit, crit damage, all resistance, armor, attack speed, attack damage percent, attack damage integer, sockets, run speed on boots, and life on hit). I don't know how many times I've either sold items that were absolutely worthless or turned into crafting materials (like I did with one legedary hand x-bow, Calamity, that was absolutely garbage). Ultimately, with D1 and D2, I always felt like I was progressing and in D3, I don't feel like I'm progressing at all unless I get enough gold to buy something off the AH or get lucky and get a good drop with useful affixes for my toons.