Good essay.
I disagree with SD’s statement that balance gets better every patch. In my opinion, it gets worse every patch.
I started playing around 1.0.5.0 and got hooked up around 1.0.6.0. It is true that back then there were a few ridiculously op builds (there still are, btw, not much has really changed…). But people also had fun making wacky builds, and many different concepts worked in endgame (example). Terribly slow - but worked. Right now, they don’t. Many builds don’t work anymore, and endgame is reserved to a handful of toptier builds.
If the purpose of balance is to protect diversity then it is getting not better. At least not from some points of view.