The Larians seem to think so, since better item balance is mentioned in the Riftrunner FAQ and RPGDot's interview. From Avault's interview;

Quote
Divinity would've benefited from a more balanced equipment and trading system. Can fans hope for this in Riftrunner?

Absolutely. That's one of the first things we addressed when this project started. We learned a lot about balancing in Divinity 1. Our in-house systems for doing it is a lot better now.


<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />