Item Fun > Item Balance

I believe it's important not to unify armor and weapons too much. For example, if all level 300 weapons are basically the same then the game is balanced (good!) but potentially boring (bad!). To keep the game interesting, there should be more significant choices. Maybe axes do 20% more damage, mauls stun 10% of the time, and two handed swords have an extra 15% chance to hit, for example.
There should also be rare drops with weird niche effects. Things that are fun to use and maybe even a little overpowered in some situations.
For example:
Armor that provides 50% damage reduction from X but double damage taken from Y. A weapon that has a 30% chance to cast an area of effect fire bomb on your melee target but the area effect also damages your own character. Maybe a weapon that summons a zombie whenever you critically strike. A tunic that doubles your number of attacks per round but halves your damage per attack. A shield that provides 100% block chance but prevents you from casting thaumaturgy spells. A wizard hat that buffs your necromancy by 100% but drains 10% of your health every combat round. Weird stuff like this. This is the kind of thing that keeps the game interesting and makes people want to re-roll a new toon when they find a rare item that might be fun to play with a specific character build.

Great idea! I think that is quality right there.

How about an alter in the back of some HARD dungeon that allows you to sacrifice. Sacrifice rare items or levels to the god of your choice ( or a god specific to that dungeon ). I don't know if it's possible but perhaps the sacrifices made could be tracked over time. So that even if your sacrifice didn't please the deity it will be remembered and one day pay off. If the god is pleased you may receive something of extreme value, like a ring that makes you permanently invisible and shifted but reduces mdm and sdm. Or if you consistently tick off the god you chose you could be cursed in some way, like increased cost at shops (low charisma) or an inability to shift alignment for some period of time. Example, maybe Mabon would boost your sdm a lot or if he cursed you then you would be extremely susceptible to myst. I like the idea of weird affects and non typical items.