This was eventually fixed to the point where you were able to only get certain loot levels which D2R Items would fit your character, and the rate at that early-game legendary items were dropped higher. Even though the legendary items you received were not a problem, you still felt you'd often get a small dose of dopamine to keep you in the game.
If Diablo 4 gets that right and uses a similar loot system as Loot2.0 in Diablo 3, then we're already worried about just the amount of time we'll get to sink into the game. Diablo 3's failure is the best thing that could have happened to the franchise on a go-forward basis. Add it with it's Immortal controversy, it feels like Blizzard has a simple plan of how to avoid potholes if it's to remain within the ranks of it's customers who are the best of its.
The community is extremely vocal about what they don't like and has been doing so throughout the course of Diablo 3, so we're hopeful that Blizzard will take the feedback of those fortunate enough to have played large portions of the game before its release. However, we'd bet Blizzard doesn't like the massive leaks of footage that is rumored to have come on the heels of one of these private tests.
One feature of Diablo 3 that is confirmed to be returning are the limited-time Best place to buy D2R items Seasons. These are essentially post-post-game pieces of content which refresh the ways legendary items function and also remix the gameplay of the game base, adding replayability to a game already replayable. Seasons were featured for quite a long period throughout Diablo 3, so we're hoping they'll also be majorly featured in Diablo 4.