Depends on who you believe. I only started playing around 7.83 (right before techies I think) so I don't know what proper Icefrog patches felt like but I'd say that this most recent patch is the most Icefrog-y patch we've had in a long time based on my limited experience. The last three or so years have definitely been shit though.
You was playing when they were still porting Dota 1 heroes so it should be long enough.
I believed that Dota is a finished game long ago (as in "perfect" enough, only minor number tweak every now and then is required).
Love it or hate it, Blizzard's Warcraft 3 DNA is embedded in Dota. I remembered Icefrog said he hated that the WC3 engine restrict his vision but I think the said limitation give the game a solid and coherent "vision" and balance.
For example, 3 main attributes: Valve tried to add new bonus to each stat, and end up revert it. Right now the attributes mechanic is conceptually still Blizzard's (except for int +magic res, and number of bonus per stat is slightly tweaked). Also have they refund the lost MS to agi heroes?
They also said they gonna make more "skill shot" skill (skill that required proper aiming like hook and arrow), which makes big skill feel more rewarding when landed. However the new heroes and their vector-targeting skills feel dumbed down. The vector gives too much visual aid, which is not a bad thing, but contradict their goal.
I spammed Clock (something like 69% winrate) back in the day to get to 4k7. One of the reasons I burned out. If you did solo ranked like me you need reliable strong early to mid game minimum-item-required like Clock, cause teamwork is a luxury. Also Clock was an underappreciated hero then. Unfortunately, Lifestealer was very popular back then, who hard counter Clock.
Also tried surprise people with exotic build. My tanker- solo ganker Slark build back in the day blown a lot of people mind back in the day (a genuine fun time). Almost unstopable until IceFraud "buff" Slark (but indirectly nerf my build).
But as you can see below, you can lose even with CoD KDR.