The issue is that the ARPG aspects completely take over the Souls like elements as you progress through the game, which in turn makes the game lose it’s identity.
The end state should still have that visceral combat, rather than achieving a focus-neutral state where we spin-to-win mashing 1 button. There are Meta runes due to focus being a shared resource, so people default to the most cost effective one. Then we are allowed to spam it through focus-neutrality. Runes have no cooldown, can stagger and lack some mechanical distinctions. These elements coming together creates the issue.
In Wicked combat evolves in a sense that it overrides the core gameplay loop, rather than adding to it. Or providing more options for players to deal with certain mechanics.
I think the ideal end state is one where we are incentivized to play reactively. Like using runes to counter certain mechanics from bosses. We are given tools to deal with certain mechanics but it has an opportunity cost as we only have 2-4 rune slots. Becoming stronger means being able to punish more effectively during opportune moments and being able to counter enemy mechanics to an extent.