Originally Posted by
Rufalus
They did once but never again. 3.1 had verminion and the first incarnation of diadem which was mixed gathering and battle content, gave an alternative way to get competitive item level equipment. Secondary stats randomised so you could farm forever in pursuit of small upgrades if you wanted. Parser people hated not be guaranteed the maximum possible stats.
I actually liked some of the ideas. When it was unpopular they never tried to innovate the gearing system again or give an alternative path to getting stronger, just stuck with tome+raid where everyone has the same stats and restricted to slow progress by weekly limit.
Yeah things like 'relic' have been introduced really late into the last few expansions and deep dungeon is usually X.3 too, so a year after xpac launch at the current pace. Personally I don't need several normal dungeons in each X.0 if it delays getting less braindead content. There's no non-linear or randomized content at all in the first year.