Agreed - D2 has not been paralleled to this to 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.