Are there many online games that don't warm against the use of mods in this way? My experience is that they all tend to basically have some version of the "using mods risks a ban" stance.

To be honest, if you wait a year or two (or more) until it's discounted or even deeply discounted, it'll probably be more worth it anyway. I.E. compare the clusterfuck that Diablo 3 was at launch to the state it's in nowadays, which is "pretty good". Not amazing by any means, but worth the low price it sells for during a sale.

I was in the open betas for Diablo 4 and I have this to say: it's better than Diablo 3, and has the potential to be good with time. That said, I totally agree with your sentiments. Modern Blizzard is trash. Most of the OG crew have left already. They don't have the same soul as what they used to have.

I was tentatively excited to get it before I saw the sheer amount of money grubbing. The existence of Last Epoch, Path of Exile and Grim Dawn made it a lot easier for me.

There seems to be a limit to how large a studio/publisher can get before it keels over into pure and utterly unashamed greed. Shareholders gotta make money I guess.