I’ve played Diablo since the day the first one came out. I really loved D2, hated D3 at first until they fixed a whole bunch of things (looking at you real money AH) and have just completed the main campaign in D4.
I do miss my superspeed WW barb from D3, I mean just absolutely blitzing a dungeon in under 20 seconds was always a ton of fun, but I’ve really come to enjoy the world building and story of D4 a lot. The mechanics are definitely pretty different in some aspects but I find that being forced to slow down and just actually enjoy the world is pretty great.
Looking forward to capstones, whispers, etc. and getting further into it. Are there issues with it? Sure, of course there are, but I think that things can only go up from here!
I have been playing since the original release of Diablo around 1997 and, like you, enjoyed D2 thoroughly. D3 was a rough start, but the introduction of seasons and rifts was pretty great. I liked the feeling of overwhelming power that D3 offered. D4 is a lot slower, a kind of calling back to the original and D2. I am enjoying the game overall, but there are some things that I would change given the opportunity. I find gearing to be less intuitive - hard stats may have been a better way to do it rather than percentages, but I’m no game developer. Although even at level 67 I am missing the feeling of power, in time I am sure it will come. At least one can cope. The sorcerer in D4 doesn’t feel as good as it had in the past. To be fair I am running with 4 defensive spells which doesn’t leave room for much else. I am struggling in WT4, but the drops in WT3 have been less than helpful in making my character stronger. The stats I need simply aren’t dropping.
Overall though? D4 is excellent. Balancing and changes will occur that brings the game together and I have no doubt I will be playing this game for another decade.