PoEs biggest problems are the bloated skill tree and the explosive power creep leading to degenerate 1 button builds that can brainlessly one shot or near one shot everything while moving at the speed of a coked up weasel.
Much of this issue is resolved via the expedient of SSF. Even more so: HC-SSF.
With SSF, double-influenced meta crafting that fuels so much of the speed clear and insane single target scaling disappears. With HC, the game slows down as builds emphasize defenses to a far greater extent. The truth is that the nerfs are aimed at slowing down a section of the community (trade league elites) that make a joke of the game by the third day of any given league. Unfortunately, who they affect disproportionately is Joe Schmoe with thirty Chaos to his name.
For example, 3.15 saw some of the fastest builds ever (see Palsteron's Chainbreaker Cyclone w/ Fulcrum) as well as the highest single target damage builds (Ele Hit topped out at 250m or so and even the humble Flicker Strike had 110m+ Raider versions), because there are players out there who can get
multiple perfectly crafted +Frenzy charge rings; double influenced Tailwind/Onslaught/Elusive boots, +2 Strike gloves with a Frenzy charge etc. etc. within a week. Triple crit multi jewels with life are no problem: numerous players are sporting 5-6 of them by Week 3. Perfectly rolled Cluster Jewels with the correct implicits? Easy. How about a 700dps one-hander? Doable for the people who rule this game.
The overall meta shifted this league, but the Raider SST, Forbidden Rite totems and - perhaps most of all - Seismic Traps can make an absolute mockery of anything in the game. Path of Math did a +quant Feared with a 70c budget Sab. Possibly the most difficult fight in the entire game required a Tabula and two Cold Iron Points to completely eviscerate. Once it became clear that there were still go-fuck-yourself builds, a lot of the crying over the nerfs went the way of the dodo.
Unfortunately, that means the core issue is still present, despite the nerfs. And - as I suspected - their answer will ultimately be to lift the ceiling, not lower the floor. So, Uber Blight, Uber Breach Stones, Uber Bosses etc that will hopefully pose a challenge to even the best builds. That + aura bot defanging + double influenced crafting nerfs will bring the game to a place where most players will be able to do 95% of the content, but only the most committed will have the last 5% open to them.
Hopefully.