I can understand Classic developers wanting another at-bat, but it's a risky proposition, especially when they're looking at an expansion that's so universally loved. Big changes like this have big ripple effects, and there are other ways to meet their stated objectives that don't have such wide-ranging implications and don't have the same collateral damage.
I don't follow what you mean by this, could you please elaborate? I may be missing something.What makes you think that a 13 ilevel reduction on an item is a proportional 13 ilevel reduction in all the stats on that item? If you take a 277 item and reduce its stamina, str and crit budget disproportionally you could keep other stats unchanged.