the way I think it seems to be working is you pretty much want to follow the rune and skill unlocks as the character levels up in order to keep up with the hit point increases and increasing capabilities of the enemies. when your friend gets to level 44 I suspect diamond skin will become useful again.

It's interesting in that it sorta forces you to learn all the different things your guy can do and there's a lot of fun to be had in playing with different combinations of skills, but on the other hand it forces you away from things you like for periods of time when they become less useful until the next run unlock.

_________________
You have destroyed us. You found the flaw in the crystal. We are gone. You are alone.

I definitely haven't followed the progressive upgrade paths for runes for most of my skills, but I have on some. I have had to change what I use from time to time, though; I kind of like that, keeps it from getting too boring/repetitive.

aaaaand yet another extended service outage. Awesome.

_________________
You have destroyed us. You found the flaw in the crystal. We are gone. You are alone.

Until when? It better be up when I get home, I've got plans to play with a friend after work. >.>

In other Diablo III-related news, has anybody started a hardcore character yet? I have, and I find it immeasurably more enjoyable than regular, or "softcore", mode. My progression of events with hardcore is as follows:

1) Made a monk. Got to level 15, then took three knockbacks in immediate succession which was a bad piece of luck, and it killed me. Learned a lesson; must have more vitality and mitigation, even at a large cost in damage gear. I had decent health for the level, but could have had a lot more. Rest in piece, Deschain. (My monk's name.)

2) Made a new monk, and leveled with a friend who made a wizard. We got to 14, and he died without blowing cooldowns; kind of a dumb death. He learned his lesson, because losing your first hardcore character sucks.

3) Made a witch doctor to level with him from scratch until we reached 14 again, so I could switch back to my monk. We stopped when we hit 14 for the night.

4) Started leveling a wizard so we could both kite like champs with two Blizzard spells at our disposal. Got him to 14 while friend was on vacation for a couple of days.

5) We leveled our wizards quite a bit more, and we're level 23 now. My Witch Doctor is 24, who I'm playing solo. Belial is also a way different fight, knowing you CANNOT let yourself get caught getting whacked and standing in poison pools, because you don't get a do-over.

For those that may not know, when you make a hardcore character, you have no lives. When that character dies, that's it; the character cannot be played anymore. You delete it and start over. It's a true hardcore experience, and I'm loving it, whereas my regular/softcore characters I was merely enjoying playing. It adds a thrilling element to the game that simply does not exist if you're not playing a hardcore character. You're careful, cautious, you use planning, etc. It's a very different feel. Also, your bank and gold are separate for hardcore characters from softcore ones; you can't level up to 60 on a softcore character, and twink out a hardcore one to make leveling easy. Your hardcore characters still share gold and stash space with other hardcore characters, but not with softcore ones. Also, it's a different auction house with a different economy. (Vitality gear is the most expensive, whereas good DPS gear is what's most expensive on the softcore auction house.)

Quite simply, I think everyone should at least give hardcore a shot. You'll almost certainly die at an earlier level than you anticipated, but damn, it's a thrill. The panic of getting overwhelmed and nearly dying, but surviving, on hardcore; it's exciting in a way nothing in softcore is.

I haven't dared make a hardcore character until my comp comes in because I surely will die due to problems out of my hands lol but i agree, in D2 I played with some hardcore characters and you play the game entirely different. Right now, I just merely run it and try to kill everything without a care and if I die, then so be it. In hardcore you have to be more strategic and it's basically a different game. I never got too far with one though, I'll probably try it out again in a little.

So, I've started Hell difficulty on my hardcore Witch Doctor. (He's 51, now.) I'm only like 30 minutes or something, into Act I; I'm at the part where you just helped the blacksmith kill his wife, and I'm leaving town over the bridge. Well, the first champion pack I encountered has fast, mortar, and vortex. What a ridiculous combination. I very nearly died, (which is a hell of a thrill) but I have no clue how to escape this pack. I tried retreating to town, so now they're in that area in front of the bridge where the blacksmith originally was. I can't possibly run far enough away from them after leading them somewhere to port to town, since they have fast. I only survived because I made a beeline to the basement where the blacksmith's wife was. The mobs are too close to the bridge leaving town for me to leave without aggroing them, so I'll have to try and lure them somewhere. Fast and vortex is such a crappy combo for ranged classes, I can't even come close to tanking these three things. Not sure how I'm going to get past them, lol.

Roland, I'm a level 57 wiz in hell, just started act 2, and I've pretty much completely gave up on the idea of doing any of the quests alone at this point. I've just been joining public games and for the most part have played with some pretty good people. It makes it much less frustrating, but even with a full group of 4 people there have been a few parts where we all die many times.

55 Witch Doctor hardcore, now. This stuff's serious, on hardcore; lol. Changes how you play, even how you run around.

Do you mean inferno? Damn I don't even want to attempt that until I'm level 60.

Anyone playing with a monk? My buddy just got through A1 inferno on his own pretty easily from what he said, I may try one out.

Got my WD and wizard up to A2 nightmare, WD first, but lost interest in him so went to wizard. Really enjoying it so far. I heard wizard has a hard time surviving in hell and through inferno though, so we will see.

Roland, do you have to buy items off the AH more in hardcore to help with survivability? I imagine you'd need pretty good gear to ensure you don't die, even if you are cautious lol

Inferno at 55? LOL, no way. Not on hardcore. NOBODY is trying inferno before 60. I'm like halfway through Act II on Hell. I'm so paranoid of dying, it's exhilarating.

@Mistaowen: Yes, you have to buy more on the AH, and since the AH for hardcore is separate from the softcore one, the selection is far less and prices are higher. You really need to farm for stuff towards 60.

Also, lol @ anyone saying inferno is easy. Graveyard zerging and dying a thousand times over the course of inferno does not mean it's easy, it means you're banging your head against concrete to bust through it like a noob. Tell your Monk friend to try that shit on hardcore. It's literally a different game.

my fault, I misread what you said, I thought you were talking about the difficulty (nightmare) instead of the hardcore mode. I've yet to make a hardcore char. Hell is hard, I don't even want to imagine what inferno will be like...

Inferno is ridiculous. Lol. You literally have to strategize every pull that may be difficult at all. (For hardcore, that is. Softcore noobs just graveyard zerg it until it's dead.)

I haven't gotten to Inferno yet. Way to busy with my internship and every time I get to 30 with a class I seem to get bored and roll something else.

Pushing towards hell now, haven't had much time to play lately with work and graduate school applications. I watched some videos of inferno play and people were getting 1 hit for over 100k lol I can't wait to graveyard zerg!

It's going to be fun when they add PVP. Anyone know details of how it'll work? Level caps, armor changes, arena sizes, etc. All the beta play I saw was 2v2.

Haha, only joking. I have no idea what to expect from Inferno. I don't dare try hardcore until I get further in regular.

Imagine a hardcore PVP mode? Always have to start over if you lose.

Got my wiz to level 60 yesterday. Now I just wish I could get some better gear before going to inferno. Most of the gear I pick up isn't any good.

Lost my hardcore 40 Barbarian last night, lol. I was being too much of a Rambo, and wearing level ~25 gear. Got trapped in Act II nightmare where you're in the underground cavern with the long thin corridors, got trapped by a champion pack that dropped three arcanes on me.

No more being cheap with the gear, could have easily survived it if I hadn't been wearing junk.

Oh damn that sucks!