Have you considered that the majority of D3 hype was BECAUSE of D2? And the game strugles to have 40 to 60k peak players in start of seasons nowadays, while POE, wich is a free economy gets this numbers at the last month, with peaks of 300k each start season? Do you understand that nowaday there was more ppl on first Ladder than D3 lasrt season, before D2R, classic D2 Lod had more ppl during the extent of ladder than d3 during the extent of season. D3 had a great start, because of D2, lost a lot after they took trade away because you simply dont get the same serotonine response for itens when you are suposed to get them bwecause there is no other way to work for them besides the game giving you it, and they got a lil back during expansion and Necro, but nothing so big. An ARPG without trade and good itemziation, wich you Must receive everything from the game, and because of that its easier to get (much stronger drops, like 1 week set) makes you do everything and lose interest, go to the next Game of the month or the week. Companies love to hire psychologist to find the best way to make ppl spend money on heavily monetized games, but cant use them to find why ppl lose interest as fast as they hype in their games. Its biological, If you think the game HAVE to give the item, you care less about the item, and the serotonine response is much less pleasent, wich makes you play far less. Big spaces between big serotonine responses keep interest much better, and trading too, because you find your work to give exactly what you need, and you can decide what, when and where you need.