This is such a great point that people here are just going to ignore because its easier to just asstalk and hate on.
The D2 that people nostalgia all over and praise was not D2 until after dozens of patches and...oh ya...a whole damn expansion.
At the same points in time D3 is ahead of where D2 was.
As a reminder, here what the Lord of Destruction added to Diablo 2 :
"
A fifth act taking place in and around Mount Arreat in the northern Barbarian Highlands, with an additional act boss, Baal.
Ethereal items: These items do not fully exist in the mortal plane and appear translucent to the human eye. Because of this, they cannot be repaired and will eventually "deteriorate", so they cannot be used anymore, but they also have better characteristics and lower requirements than their repairable equivalents. However, some magical ethereal items are self-repairing, and some have sockets, and can be made indestructible by inserting a Zod rune.
Runes: stones that give powerful attributes to a socketed item when placed in it or even more powerful bonuses when placed in a certain order forming a "runeword" (see Rune Words section below for more information).
Jewels: items serving a similar purpose to gems in that they can be placed in socketed items, but which have random characteristics as opposed to the set characteristics of gems and runes.
Charms: items giving boosts to character's stats when kept in the inventory of the player.
Two new character classes:
the Assassin and the Druid.
An expanded private stash for storing items (double the size of the Diablo II stash).
An alternate mainhand/offhand setup that can be switched between via a hotkey in gameplay.
Hirelings as well as summons can now follow the player outside of the Act in which they were hired. They can also be equipped with armor, a helm, and a hireling-specific weapon (as well as a shield in one case). Hirelings can also be resurrected (for a price proportional to their level) when killed.
Class-specific items: new items that only a specific character class can use. These items often contain class-specific bonuses, often adding additional skill points for that character class.
Elite items: more powerful versions of items following the Normal and Exceptional items.
New unique items, including many Exceptional and Elite Uniques.
New set items, including sets that use Class-specific items (i.e. only one character class can complete certain sets).
The game can now be played at 800x600 resolution, up from the standard 640x480."