Just because they're features in WoW doesn't mean they really have an impact or that they're negative. Potion chugging was an absolutely absymal implementation in D2, as were instaportals (why do you think they disabled that for Ancients? because it was a joke of a mechanic that trivialized encounters), the economy was a mess with no central hub (and gold was worthless), and taking into consideration how D2 builds were styled (max skill A, max skill B and C and D that provide synergy bonuses, dump a few utility/defensive points) you ultimately have about as many useful skills at one time (if not more) in D3 than you do in D2, the difference is if you decide you want to do something differently you just pause for a minute or two instead of going back to Normal Tristram and starting over completely.
Achievements are a non issue, don't want them then don't do them. Kind of the same with professions. Durability loss is hardly unique to WoW but is really just remix of the D2 death mechanic, flat gold loss.
Personally I cant understand why anyone played D2 as long as they did, but they did so anyway. Ultimately I think it comes down to "Do you like lottery farming?" which is the essence of the game in both titles once you've beaten the story. Some people don't want to do it at all, some want to do it a little, and some will do it until they're blue in the face.
I think D3 is a substantial improvement upon D2 for the simple fact that it's actually a step towards more interactive, fun gameplay: D2 was fun when you got a good drop, and pretty drab much of the rest of the time because of it's spammy nature. Skill cooldowns, in my opinion, make gameplay much more engaging because you no longer just rely on your "one best skill" for combat. If a Barbarian could use Revenge as often as he could click, it would feel like D2 to me, and I think that would be a huge step backward and incredibly boring.
Loot is a matter of opinion. Personally I don't care about the font color of my items. I understand people liked the idea that "hey I can wear a unique or a runeword or a rare and they can all be good" but ultimately it still came down to the same min maxing culture and stat thresholding imo.