I am so happy this game is announced. It'll probably never hit us for awhile but I'm just glad to have the confirmation of its soon-to-be existence.
Frankly, I liked the 1.10 patch, and its the way the game should have been from the start. However, its still got a lot of issues in that it is pretty constricting of builds, and calls for almost cookie-cutter (because most fully-realized synergies are cookie cutter, like say, Meteor and Blizzard sorcs, and Hammerdins). However, for those who like to play through the game, it helped balance by allowing you to pump lower-level skills. This made leveling easier, since you'd have access to skills on the way (instead of hoarding points to say up for, say, Frozen Orb). Still, it really killed off the customizability of the characters a bit, because you pretty much HAVE to invest in synergies or realize that you just can't get through the game.
I can definitely understand how it wrecked PvP, though. Synergies killed off a lot of builds, and constricted them. I'd say 1.10 patch was for those who enjoyed soloing or playing through the game in its entirety (not a whole ton of people).
I hope Diablo III presents a fresh new take on skills and stuff. The change between Diablo I's spellbook system to Diablo II's level-up system was quite nice, and I hope they have another jump like that.