What makes the item system so bad?

[Occhidiangela]

I don't understand. What are you going to use your resources for in a game about getting better gear, except getting better gear? RMAH aside, there's not anything else to do with your gold.

This point argues for a Fafhrd and Gray Mouser "Ale and Whores" adventuring or achievement or quest feature in the game. As Pete might have observed, it's a "beer and pretzels" game.

So long as there are better and worse affixes, the more affixes you add, the smaller the "box that defines very good items" gets. The Uber items will be rarer, and relatively better, than the non-Uber ones.

What pains me is that you had to say that. A well phrased point.