I remember when ED first dropped, I was in high school and thought it was so stupid, I was outraged and thought they had ruined the game.
looking back now, I think it was a example of a really well thought out game change they did which was unpopular but very much needed. It gave the game a lot of new life, beyond just everyone taking the same handful of powers and six slotting them (e.g every character taking hasten or doing 1acc5damage on every attack). It made people force to slot for in different ways and made a whole range of different characters viable.
It also made IO sets eventually be possible, which gave the game some much needed grinding and things to strive for.
overall, I think ED saved the game at the time more than it ruined it.
