What makes the item system so bad?

[Chesspiece_face]

The problem is that the utility affixes are not powerful enough. Options that are more than just bigger numbers on the character screen need to be viable to lend flavor to the item game, just as the unique legendary proc effects do.

I don't foresee how you would ever be able to make a utility stat on gear be competitive with either pure damage or pure defense. There are certain builds (such as my present WD build) that can use a utility stat, and I think there can be a better implementation of the current elemental CC stat, but other than that I don't see much you can do to make the secondary stats more compelling. Definitely not where they would cause a player a second of thought to sacrificing damage or defense to get it.

I've thought a lot about why so many people are dissatisfied with the D3 item system and I've read a lot of the complaints but barring some minor valid issues here and there I've not seen anyone be able to vocalize specific faults with the overall system. The arguments always boil down to hyperbole and false assumptions ("You're forced to use the AH!", "The only way to get good gear is to spend real money!"). In the end I question how much the distaste for this system lies in rose-tinted nostalgia or simply grass-is-greener syndrome.

I myself have had periods of dissatisfaction and the only thing that I can come up with is that the gearing curve doesn't appropriately match up with the game progression curve. In D2 the majority of gearing upgrades didn't come until after you were done with game progression and in 'farm mode'. D3 hits that massive upswing on the gearing curve at the beginning of Inferno, forcing players into 'farm mode' before they are given the satisfaction of "completing" a character.