The list off effects that replaced +stat bonuses don’t have to be so limited. You could have valuable bonuses to so many other stats, such as +durability to all equipment, +health/stamina regen, +drops for valuables/consumables/ingredients/other item types, +armor for self or followers, morale bonuses for allied players, etc. The dev and player communities can probably imagine many more of these. (+jump height, +movement and/or attack rate, -crafting time, I can’t stop thinking up more of these.)
Getting new effects into the game, either by replacement or creation of new assets, would be time consuming. One way to let players take advantage of it sooner is with equipment mods that could replace an item effect with another. You could make these craftable, and restrict particular affects to particular item slots (night vision headwear!) or weapon types (adding Bleed to piercing type weapons, such as spear and javelin.) Affixes could also be restricted by the base materials of the item (such as leather only, eldarium only, obsidian or dragonbone etc,) and restrictions based on the faction or culture that produces the item.