With a little less than a month until 2.4.0, I'd just like to put a few thoughts here.
What's great?
Scaling
To those complaining about the number scaling.. you really have to take a step back and see what is actually happening. That team is committed to scaling the base skills with gear to control the multiplicative nature of the beast and introducing the Legacy of Nightmares set to bring skills up to par (kinda) based on damage alone.
I think it's slightly misguided to keep trying to control the top end meta but I think it's also a really good way of finding what is actually fun for players. And.. in the future, I can see them adding the scaling in by default and focusing on augmenting the skills which is far more intersting.
Kanai's cube
First. RIP.
Second, I like that we've gotten a way to extend the number of "skills" we have with the cube and legendary gems.. at this point I'm definitely feeling like we should remove the accessory socket requirement and put legendary gems just as additional powers. The game is probably in the right spot right now to do that since we're re-establishing baseline defense and offense and we can mitigate the 3 additional stat slots.
What's the same?
Channeling
Channeling should probably just be removed at this point. I don't think the dev team knows how to make this mechanic interesting and even though they're making the numbers better.. i'm not sure that standing somewhere and holding down a button should be good except in specific circumstances.
What could we do about it? I'd like to see a completely new approach to channeling (although no idea if it's technically feasible). So stuff like, buff/debuff ground pools that widen as you cast, regeneration/resource regeneration, access to different skills while channeling (archon)
Just as an example.. say mirror image, could be a "channeled" ability where you get to summon 3 clones based on the direction you're facing, you get a new set of "skills" where 1 is cancel, 2-5 will swap the real you to the corresponding position, all copies (including you) are gimpy and do 10% damage and cast random stuff but most importantly.. they dont move
Definitely excited to see the final patch notes for 2.4.0!