An additional though, and folks are gonna kill me for this, is to simply slow down levelling by a LOT, and add more events into the low and mid game (Instead of packing them all into end game). Levelling would take a lot longer, but players would have plenty of things to do as they level. Players would be more inclined to pursue rare items as they level if they did not outlevel them so quickly. However, I am certain this would piss off a LOT of players
Imo, this, so much. Everyone is so obsessed with the rush to endgame, there's absolutely no fun in actually making progress with your character.