Diablo II is still more fun to play than Diablo III (in my opinion). The community behind Diablo II is just 100x more passionate and loyal. The rune word system in Diablo II is still being expanded which makes the game re-playable every season.
I grew up playing an inordinate amount of Warcraft I, II, III, and StarCraft in the 90s with my siblings. The quirky character voices and scripts were downright amazing and AFAIK remain unparalleled to this day.
Your reflection sounds eerily similar to the one D2 dev who said the same thing after he (accidently) stayed up all night (sound familar?) on a Friday evening "testing" the latest change they implemented in the engine architecture unti he noticed day-light was peaking into his office window...
There seems to be a secret sauce in D2 that is impossible to replicate.