Lost ark has a couple of good ideas which mostly got borrowed from blade and soul when it comes down to the combat. I've played it a lot, it's a downright average game pve wise (and on top of that the 2.0 patch made it as the grindiest mmo out there along with black desert online) BUT it's AN INCREDIBLE pvp game, theres absolutely nothing like it.I found DII fun, I finished it a while ago for maybe the second time (so I'm not of those addicts that still play it every day to this day and min max all the stats and gear). I couldn't stick with PoE or any of the other recent popular ones. But I want to see that sort of game do more stuff in line with Lost Ark (not the grind/p2w). I've probably only finished Diablo 1 on PlayStation, some other console game of that kind of era if they qualify, the first Torchlight and whatever else I forget atm.
Also PoE pushed the whole genre extremely far in terms of mechanics in fights / boss fights. It has very interesting boss encounters and they keep it making it better which is nothing short of mind-blowing. Grim dawn is imho the only worthy contender, the customized side of it is absolutely nuts and every single system is purposeful + it has pretty nervous gameplay.
Torchlight is the perfect middle point, especially 2. These are all better games imho