Barbarian Level 70, Paragon Level 191

I've been thoroughly enjoying Reaper of Souls, so much so that I've skipped posting here for some time (sorry, guys) and just concentrated on leveling-up my barbarian character. As you can see from the screenshot below, I've been spending quite some time transmogrifying and buying up dyes making sure everything's coordinated and shit.

Right now my barbarian is the most powerful (i.e., the one able to dish out the most damage) among my characters but I have a feeling that my crusader is going to overtake him really fast (at least until he levels up to 70 - just 2 more levels to go). Also, he's the sugar daddy of the bunch, the one tasked to make the most money for spending by the group.

I've given him some rest in the last couple of weeks however, preferring to adventure with my crusader and exploring his different abilities. I'll be getting him back on track soon enough though as the barbarian is my favorite class. I'm currently playing at Torment II but I hope to progress to Torment III as soon as I reach Paragon Level 200 or perfect my gems, whichever comes first.

How're you guys doing with your characters so far?

Reaper of Souls First Impression

I noticed a vast improvement in latency on the Americas server so I decided to continue playing my Barbarian there.

There was a big patch a while back, Patch 2.0 which upgraded the game and has in fact changed the log in screen to "Reaper of Souls". It came with an adjusted loot system (which is awesome), additions to the game like "Pools of Reflection" which allowed you to level up faster. But it wasn't until March 25 did the expansion "Reaper of Souls" was finally activated.

It comes with a new act, Act V, raising the level cap to 70, allowing more powerful items into the game.

Before the launch, I made it to Act 1 of Torment 3, Paragon Level 74. Torment 1 didn't seem all that hard, and the only thing that made Torment 2 slightly more difficult was that it took such a long time to kill monsters.

I thought I'd start over the game on Torment 2 after the launch, and just level up my character from there. What I noticed was the game had suddenly become more difficult, much more difficult than Torment 2 was before the launch. That's probably because the monsters are now leveling up the same time as me. Now that I'm up to Level 65, the monsters have leveled up to 65 as well. In fact, it's become so difficult that I've lowered the difficulty to Torment 1 and the monsters...just mobs and not even elites are STILL KICKING MY ASS. Holy crap. They seem to have a much higher damage this time around.

The joy in all this is that I've started to get much more powerful items, although I've noticed I haven't gotten much legendaries as I used to. Leveling up from 60 to 65 I only got ONE legendary item, but it's a really good one and it's now my primary weapon:

Additionally, the default gem that drops now is the "Marquise" gem, which automatically made all my other gems that I've been keeping and upgrading quite useless. I don't mind though. It's levels higher than the previous default gem which was I think "Flawless". As long as it makes my items much more powerful, I won't complain!

I've yet to see Act V or encounter the new artisan. But I'll get there eventually!

Socketed Gloves

Lookit' what I found: a socketed legendary glove!

The stats are nothing special, especially for my level, but you don't see a socketed legendary glove that often so I'm keeping this one for my collection (I also have a socketed pair of boots).

I'm hoping that with the right kind of jewel, the glove will make up for the drop in damage for my Barbarian character though it's probably going to have to be a marquise level gem (which is going to be insanely expensive).

Panic Buying

In anticipation of the impending closure of the Auction House this coming March 18, 2014 (read more about it here), I have begun stocking up on jewels whenever their going price is low and a LOT of Tome of Secrets anticipating that said items will be hard to come by then.

Yes, I have given in to panic buying.

I've also auctioned off most of my Legendary items (those that I weren't using) and given the last of my good stuff to Gerry (who's now a happy camper) and has begun reacquainting himself in anticipation of the coming expansion.

Diablo III Inferno, Monster Power 2

I just started Act 1 in Monster Power 2!

There's more of everything here, monsters and loot (especially the gold). My current stats and gear are coping well but it is just Act 1 after all. I'm probably going to need some major upgrades by Act 2 which will mean another shopping spree at the Auction House. With the gold flowing the way it is now, I'm probably going to be able to afford the more pricier items.

For now, I'm just going to continue merging gems together and ramping up my stats that way.

Jewels

I've been farming like crazy the past few months to pass the time while waiting for Reaper of Souls (click here for more details), mainly collecting items (mostly the legendary stuff) and gold.

Most of my gold however have been spent buying stuff on the Auction House to upgrade my gear to survive on Monster Power mode (I'm currently at Monster Power 1) and creating better jewels (which takes a lot of patience especially if you're not "buying" gold and relying mostly on farming to accumulate the required amount of money and Tome of Secrets).

The better quality gems I've got, I've already embedded on my socketed gear (which can be viewed here). Below are the other sparklies waiting in my inventory.