Items are a big deal in Diablo III, especially as all spell damage is now based on weapon damage. The random drop chances can leave you with a pile of equipment you don’t need while you’re still stuck using an old weapon. Diablo III has solved this problem with a realm-wide auction house and crafted items that are competitive with dropped items. Break down any unwanted magic armour you find into crafting materials and use them to level up the Blacksmith artisan. The items he produces get random stats, so a lucky roll could produce items perfectly suited to a particular build.

Rather than break down any good weapons you find for materials, list them on the realm-wide auction house. People are sure to pay some serious gold for rare or high-damage weapons, as all skill damage is now based on weapon damage. Since everyone is starting out with no gold, there initially won’t be a market for twinking characters. In the first few days, you should aim for realistic prices based on the amount of gold that someone of the item’s level will have found. There’s no sense asking for 100,000 gold for an awesome 10 weapon if most level 10 characters will have a fraction of that amount and the weapon will be obsolete by the time they can afford it.

Items are a big deal in Diablo III, especially as all spell damage is now based on weapon damage. The random drop chances can leave you with a pile of equipment you don’t need while you’re still stuck using an old weapon. Diablo III has solved this problem with a realm-wide auction house and crafted items that are competitive with dropped items. Break down any unwanted magic armour you find into crafting materials and use them to level up the Blacksmith artisan. The items he produces get random stats, so a lucky roll could produce items perfectly suited to a particular build. 

In fact, make one character of every class. If you’ve been following Diablo III’s development over the past few months, you’ve probably watched all the gameplay videos and have already decided which class you’ll play first. You’ve probably also written off one or more classes as uninteresting based on the videos or ability details, but you might end up regretting your decision later. I had originally written off the Monk and the Demon Hunter based on their gameplay videos, but after playing them in the open beta weekend, I found my dismissal of them to be profoundly mistaken.

Feedback from the open beta weekend seems to agree, with a lot of players finding classes they had no interest in surprisingly fun to play despite earlier reservations. Blizzard spent a long time polishing all of the skills, so every class seems to be ridiculously fun to play. While it makes sense to concentrate on one character until you’ve explored the entire game, I highly recommend creating one character of each class and playing each for up to an hour before deciding which one to focus on.

In fact, make one character of every class. If you’ve been following Diablo III’s development over the past few months, you’ve probably watched all the gameplay videos and have already decided which class you’ll play first. You’ve probably also written off one or more classes as uninteresting based on the videos or ability details, but you might end up regretting your decision later. I had originally written off the Monk and the Demon Hunter based on their gameplay videos, but after playing them in the open beta weekend, I found my dismissal of them to be profoundly mistaken. 

It seems like a bit of a no-brainer to initially focus on one character, but in Diablo III’s case, there’s a special reason to do it. You’ll likely finish normal mode around level 20-30, and until then, you’ll get a new skill almost every level. It’s only when you’ve completed normal mode and moved on to nightmare that the challenge really starts and you will have picked out an effective set of skills. Your last active skill unlocks at level 30, and from then on you’ll gain a combination of two to three runes or passive skills every level until you hit the level cap at 60.

Diablo III officially launched at midnight last night, opening the floodgates on what is possibly the most pre-ordered PC game in history. It’s been almost 12 years since the previous game in the series launched, and it’s still going to this day. Whether you’ve played previous games, have taken part in the Diablo III beta or are taking your first steps into Sanctuary today, everyone starts with a clean slate. In this article, I give my top five tips for spending your first few days wisely in Diablo III.

It seems like a bit of a no-brainer to initially focus on one character, but in Diablo III’s case, there’s a special reason to do it. You’ll likely finish normal mode around level 20-30, and until then, you’ll get a new skill almost every level. It’s only when you’ve completed normal mode and moved on to nightmare that the challenge really starts and you will have picked out an effective set of skills. Your last active skill unlocks at level 30, and from then on you’ll gain a combination of two to three runes or passive skills every level until you hit the level cap at 60.