>>1436745
This is all caused by the synergy patch. Diablo 2 wasn't as heavy with farming to just progress. When we got the synergy patch they had to bloat the monsters stats. I remember when I was slowly making my way through Act IV Hell on a concentration maul barbarian and then downloaded the new patch and he could only hang in Nightmare due to how fucked the gear scaling became.
This is partly why I enjoy Diablo I more than II. You can get by with either the items you find naturally on your descent, or find some magical gear to purchase from Griswold or Wirt. There was also a reason to pick up every magical item. People claim Diablo II has superb itemization, but there's only certain magical items they are looking for so most items that aren't normal won't be picked up. In Diablo I every magical item can be a potential upgrade. Sure there are less modifiers on magical items in Diablo I, but there is always excitement in finding
any blue item. There was a run in which I did Hell with a Saber because it spawned with a high enhanced damage percentage and chance to hit which out did other weapons in damage regardless of their items higher base damage. I won't be picking up a blue short sword in Act IV/V normal in Diablo II because there's almost nothing that can spawn on it that'll out do other weapons types I've unlocked as I've progressed. Then you can compound that with early rune words that give modifiers that blue magical items simply can't give like crushing blow or open wounds, or a flat out +1 to all skills.
Sadly ARPGs took the grind item treadmill from Diablo II rather than being one and done in a play session of Diablo I. I guess that's to be expected, more games are geared towards keeping a player playing the game across many years rather than being a concise session that the player might revisit in a year or two and spend a week on.