Act 1 Inferno down

Last night I completed Act 1 of Inferno on my Monk. I killed the Butcher easily in what felt like an anticlimax.

After bitching so hard about patch 1.0.3 I feel almost ashamed at my outburst. What can I do, I'm hotblooded... The fact remains that the patch lost me over a million gold, even if I managed to make a full recovery afterwards. Recoveries don't come cheap though.

Let me tell you a bit about my Monk's stats, which allowed me to so easily complete Act 1 in Inferno. All of these are unbuffed but with the Enchantress companion (who gives extra armor and DPS).

18K DPS (1549 Dexterity)
30.4K Life
5871 Armor
35.5% Dodge
20% Block
303 Resist All

Here's my build. I changed it a few days ago, in a departure from what I had been using for the past couple of weeks.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#biXgYh!ZUX!ZZbaca

If you get stuck with your Monk, I highly recommend this build. If there's one word to describe it, it's "awesome". I don't take credit for it because this is the exact same build used by the guy in this video:

So while this isn't my own innovation, I can attest to the fact that it works very well and playing the Monk is, once more, a pleasure. The video is quite long but worth watching, at least until you can see how he explains the build.

My gear is quite decent for Act 1, as you can imagine. I have a 910 DPS blue sword with 1.47 attack speed. I paid 850K for it on the Auction House and even though it seemed expensive at the time, now I believe it was quite a steal. For some reason 900+ DPS weapons are incredibly expensive.

Yeah, so that's about it for now. I'm satisfied that I have Act 1 on farm mode. I can make a very nice circuit of the most interesting areas (by taking various waypoints) and finally, with 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor, I can kill the Butcher easily. The fun is back in the game. I really enjoy this endgame farming aspect where I have a chance to find the most powerful items in the game, including a legendary or two.

I don't want to move to Act 2 right away. I think I'm going to farm Act 1 for at least another couple of weeks until I can slowly gear myself up for Act 2. I need about 500 Resist All for that, and also more DPS.

So where are you at? Have you reached Inferno yet? Have you finished it? What is the highest area you have on farm?

Ka-ching!

Apparently Blizzard read my whiny, ranting post the other day and decided to bribe me. After the big IAS nerf I decided to (what the hell) spend some more gold to re-equip my Monk. 1.7 million gold later I found myself with the same DPS I had before the nerf: around 17K. I also switched from using the Scoundrel to the Enchantress and DPS went up to 18K. OK, I was back on track to farming Fields of Misery on Inferno.

So there I was, minding my own business, killing shit in one of the random dungeons that spawn in that zone, namely Scavenger's Den, level 2. I had 4 stacks of Nephalem Valor (for a total of +131% Magic Find) and I just killed a champion group (or was it a rare elite?). The final monster dies and I do a double take when I see what drops:

Yup, a legendary crossbow. I pick it up...

and identify it...

Hmm, not bad. It would make a nice weapon for my Demon Hunter when he hits 60. On the other hand, I had just picked up from the AH for 200K a bow with more DPS, but also with a lot of life leech on it. What if I sell the Hellrack?

About 12 hours later this is what I see in my AH log:

I posted it for $8.48 and ended up with $7.48 after Blizzard's cut. Also notice the other sales that happened in fairly close succession. Pretty good, I'd say. You may think I'm a fool for selling it for such a low price but I did my homework before that. There were better legendary bows on the RMAH for less than $10 and I wanted to sell this quickly. I decided to price it comparably to other bows in that range. Mine had pretty good stats for a Hellrack so I guess that's why it sold so quickly. Could I have sold it for $1-$2 more? Maybe, but it's impossible to know. When they allow us to cancel auctions I will price items more conservatively.

I have three additional reasons why I decided to get rid of this legendary bow quickly. One is that $7.48 will buy me a hell of a lot of gold (if I so desire) once gold buying is enabled. Second is that Hellracks go for about 500K-600K gold, which is pathetic. $7.48 >>>>>>>> 600K gold. Third is that Blizzard will buff legendary items in a future patch. I don't want to risk waiting until that patch, when my own Hellrack becomes worthless.

The point is that whatever you may think about this sale (too high or too low), I am happy with it. It's my highest sale so far, by far. This brings my total to over $11. Yes, it's a pathetic amount but I'm not gonna pay my bills with RMAH money. Instead, I just might use it to buy a really good item or two in the future. I have a feeling that actual money will be a lot more valuable and stable than gold.

Finally, here's a little tip. I have this nasty trick that I use to boost my Magic Find. A bazillion other players use the same trick so I'm sure you are aware of it, and it's "nasty" because Blizzard doesn't really like it but there isn't much they can do about it. I have an extra helm in my inventory with +32% MF. Just before killing the last boss or champion I will swap my usual DPS helm with the MF one. Simple but apparently effective.

So that's it then. All you gotta do to make money on the RMAH is to bitch about Diablo 3 and Blizzard will read your post and give you some nice legendary drops to appease you. I kid, of course, but the funny thing is that something similar used to happen to me in WoW. After a long hiatus or a loss of enthusiasm I would get some really nice drop, when I least expected it. Pure coincidence, all of it. Don't count on this method kids.

Oh the nerfs!

Fuck you Blizzard! I said it in the past and, there you go, I'm saying it again. Patch 1.0.3 is oh so bittersweet. It brings some nice changes, like reduced crafting costs but also fucks many of us hard in the ass. Sorry if your delicate ears are insulted by my cursing but that's how I feel right now. I've suddenly lost all the wind in my sails.

You see, I was preparing to write this post in which I enthused about finally being sufficiently geared to farm Fields of Misery on Inferno with my Monk. Over a couple of weeks I managed to buy a few pieces of gear from the AH, not too cheap mind you, and at the end of this my Monk found himself with 17K+ DPS, 27K health (a bit on the low side) and 250 resistances.

I beat the Skeleton King without issues, as well as a lot of champions and rares, and only died about 3 times in 2-3 hours of play. I reached the Fields of Misery and did a complete clear. Boss packs were challenging but eminently doable. I got a lot of nice drops, mostly upgrades for my Barbarian. Rare items galore. Happiness.

And then along comes Blizzard and completely fucks me and a lot of other people over. Of course, they had to nerf Increased Attach Speed (IAS). And they did it in the most ham-handed way possible by retroactively slashing IAS on all weapons and items (except for quivers). I was fervently hoping that they would only do this on future items. Alas, it wasn't so. I had some significant IAS on a few of my items.

Worst of all, my 800+ DPS fist weapon for which I paid in excess of 600K, had +24% IAS. Now it has 10%. Guess how much my total DPS dropped. It went from 17K+ to 14K+. The weapon now barely has a bit over 700 DPS and in the process has been rendered valueless, as I doubt I can sell it for even 50K on the AH. Nice work Blizzard! Fuck you again!

Now my choices are to spend my remaining gold on upgrades that will bring me back to where I was before the nerfs, or to wait a few more weeks and try to catch some good deals until I can step again in Inferno. You can tell I'm overjoyed.

Don't even get me started on the increased repair costs. If you ask me, that's another quick-but-dumb fix they implemented to "equalize" the difference between ranged and melee classes. Apparently ranged classes were having a ball in Inferno, throwing themselves repeatedly at boss packs in a kamikaze sort of way until the pack went down. I don't know what they are smoking over there at Blizzard but that sounds like complete bullshit to me. Dying is the thing I hate most. I will do everything in my power to avoid it. And now I will hate it even more.

And then there's the little nerfs to drop rates. I won't even go there because this isn't what bothers me the most.

I'm sorry but this is ridiculous. All that time spent farming gold to afford better gear is now wasted. I feel robbed and I can't even imagine what people who have paid real money for those items feel. I can't even focus on the good things the patch brings because I am too distressed by the bad stuff to care.

So tell me, has 1.0.3 screwed you over?

D3 Marathon - Day 13

There isn't much to say about day 13. I was gone most of the day and only got about 3 hours of play, spent exclusively on farming Acts 2 and 3 in Hell with my Monk. I make about 100K an hour doing that, during which the 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor also built up quickly.

I didn't find a single upgrade for the Monk, though I did get a couple of rare drops for my other classes. On the other hand I spent about 200K on the Auction House for some incremental upgrades that I thought were "cheap" but they barely raised my DPS from 10K to 10.8K. At least my Monk looks better now without that ridiculous helmet he was wearing previously.

It has become clear to me that the only way I'm going to get 15-20K DPS is to buy a much better weapon. My current sword gives 500+ DPS along with some Dexterity. I would need at least a 800+ DPS weapon in order to progress. The problem is that those weapons are very expensive, usually upwards of 1 million gold. I pretty much have 2 options right now: spend most of my gold on getting a better weapon or continue to grind Hell in the hopes of getting better drops and more gold.

I'm reluctant to spend so much money though because it might still be worth something when the RMAH finally decides to show up. But this is a catch-22. Don't spend gold - can't progress. Spend all the gold - be broke but progress and perhaps make some of it back before the RMAH is released. What to do?

My plan is to keep an eye out on the AH for some good deals on a better weapon. While in the past I've been able to snag some really sweet gear for very low prices, all of a sudden, from level 59 and up, a wall has been erected and the bar has been set a lot higher for those items. Up until then, I considered a good deal anything south of 50K. Now, I'll be very happy to find a 800+ DPS weapon for less than 500K.

Build and skills
My build has changed a little bit now that I'm farming Hell.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#UZXgQT!YZX!cZZaaa
I've replaced Mystic Ally (because he kept dying at higher levels and I was tired of wasting Spirit refreshing him) with Seven-Sided Strike runed with Sudden Assault. This is my "emergency" nuke and helps me a lot especially for champions and rare bosses. Besides, the cooldown is low enough that I can use it often, including on annoying monsters who like to run away.

Barbarian
I have also put in a few hours over the past couple of days on my Barbarian who's level 30 and has just finished Normal difficulty. Because he does 700 DPS at this level, everything is a piece of cake for him. Why so much? Because he has some of the best items courtesy of his big brothers the Demon Hunter and the Monk. He does have some issues with survivability, though he hasn't died once in all his 30 levels. I can tell, though, that he will never be my main.

Next, I'll be continuing to attempt to gear the Monk for Inferno Act 1. Will I succeed? It remains to be seen.

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D3 Marathon - Day 12

This update will be brief and very late because I was away on business for most of the day.

On day 12 I moved to Inferno after reaching 60 but I haven't even met the first champion/rare pack and got scared. Those zombies at the very beginning hit hard and have a lot of hit points.

I checked my stats and it took me 48 hours and 30 minutes of play on the Monk, to finish Hell. I finished it with 10K DPS and 26K health. I beat Hell Diablo on the first try, though it was quite challenging and I came close to dying several times. Luckily, I kept using my defensive cooldowns successively, along with health potions and health shrines, keeping myself alive.

The problem is that I hit a big tall wall in Inferno. My 10K DPS doesn't cut it anymore. I was hoping I could kill the Skeleton King quickly and go on to farm Fields of Misery. Alas, that ain't gonna happen soon. I need at least 15K DPS, preferably 20K or even more, to get to that point.

So I did the only thing I could: went back to Hell, Act 2 this time. I'm farming the zone where you get the quest to find Zoltun Kulle's body parts. With 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor (which build up fairly quickly) I can make 100K gold in an hour. I need some serious gear upgrades if I'm to farm Act 1 of Inferno.

That's it for today. Have you made it to Inferno? How's your progress so far?

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D3 Marathon - Day 11

On day 11 I accomplished more than I set up to do. I went to bed late but I decided to play until...

Aye me hearties, my Monk reached level 60. He's currently in Act 3 on Hell.

The day was marked by a steady and huge improvement in my DPS. From the previous day I progressed from 4000 DPS to 5200 DPS (and 30K hit points). I had been stuck in Act 2 for a while, being unable to compete the quests for the various body parts of Zoltun Kulle. The problem was that every time I tried, I ran into some extremely vicious champions or rares inside those tombs that I couldn't bypass. I died a few times but mostly I ran away.

The solution? I needed more DPS to burn down those nasties much quicker. So I shopped a bit on the Auction House and found a nice pair of daggers which improved my DPS by 1000+. I found myself at level 59 with 30K health and 5200 DPS. As a result, I was able to complete Act 2 without too much hassle, at level 59 9/10. For the record, I hate Belial, the Act 2 boss. The encounter is very poorly designed. Still, I beat him on the first try.

Moving on to Act 3, I found out that 5200 DPS wasn't nearly enough. It was decent but there was room for improvement. Back to the AH. I found a nice fist weapon and a shield, whereupon I switched back from dual-wielding to 1H + shield. DPS shot up to 7500 but life dropped to 28K with Mystic Ally and Earth Ally. It's all good. My survivability went up anyway, thanks to the shield.

Just before reaching 60, I found a bunch of other upgrades, some of them drops, which further increased DPS to 8100. Before going to bed, I decided to do a quick search on the AH and found this very nice upgrade for only 40K.

DPS at the end of the night? 9700. Not bad at all, eh? Here's how the Monk looks. A little better than the previous two days, except for the helm which is the same one. I also changed my banner again. Arr!

Now, the best thing about level 60?

Nephalem Valor. You get a stack each time you kill a rare boss or a group of champions. What it does is, it simply increases your Magic and Gold Find. Each stack gives you an additional +15% You can have a maximum of 5 stacks (for a total of +75%). That gave me +88% Gold Find and +94% Magic Find. If it seems puny it's because my gear has very little amounts of GF/MF but overall it made a big difference. I started getting tons of rare item drops. In fact, I'm running out of space again on my alts because many of these items are future upgrades for them, as well as stuff that I want to sell on the AH.

In other news, the damn Auction House still won't allow commodity trading. I don't understand what Blizzard is playing at. I'm itching to trade some commodities and try out some new ideas I have. Ironically, it seems that on the European side you can trade commodities just fine.

Oh, I announced a couple of days ago that I reached my first million gold. 2 days later I've got over 2 million, despite purchasing a number of upgrades. One of my "investments" panned out but, I will repeat this, I would have made a lot more if commodity trading had worked.

Next on my "to do" list is to finish Hell difficulty. I can't wait to get to Inferno and start farming Fields of Misery.

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D3 Marathon - Day 10

On day 10 I didn't get very far on my Monk in comparative terms but I did beat my goal, which was simply to reach level 57. At the end of the day the Monk was about 57 3/4. I spent most of the day farming Fields of Misery in Hell Act 1. Follow the link to read why this is such a good area for farming, at any difficulty level.

Once I exceeded 4K DPS through some upgrades, I decided to push on to Act 2. Now I'm about halfway through.

At the end of the day, my DPS was 4047 and my health 27K.

I also attained my first million gold. Woopty-doo.

Oh, I got to play with a buddy all the way in Asia. Very neat. Today I might join up with another friend in Europe.

Apart from that, I'm still pissed that commodity trading has been offline for the past 2 days on the Auction House. WTF Blizzard?? Fix it already!

My goal for the day is to get as close to 60 as possible. Will it happen today? Who knows. I'd also love to finish Hell but I'm not sure that's doable with less than 5K DPS.

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D3 Marathon - Day 9

Though my progression in terms of levels gained has slowed down, I am fairly satisfied with what I accomplished on day 9.

The Monk is level 55 and he has just finished Act 1 in Hell. I beat the Butcher without major issues (also at level 55), on the first try. Before reaching 55 I also spent a few hours farming Azmodan on Nightmare for XP.

When I logged out for the day, the Monk had 3400 DPS and 21K hit points (with the Earth Ally rune for Mystic Ally). Not bad at all. I started Act 1 Hell with about 2200 DPS and I was having a hard time burning down certain groups of champions/rares fast enough. There was a lot of running and kiting involved.

Eventually, I decided to shop a little on the Auction House and I found these two beauties. I'm sure they were being sold by the same person.

Remember yesterday's weapons? The new swords improved my DPS by over 800 (from 2359 to 3221) and health by 1000. The truth is that these cost me 50K gold each but they were worth every penny. This is certainly the most expensive upgrade I have bought so far but just look at those stats! The rolls are almost perfect, if it wasn't for Intelligence on both of them.

Thanks to these new weapons, I've got Act 1 Hell pretty much on farm mode. There are, of course, situations when I come across groups of champions/rares with bad affixes and I either spend 5 minutes kiting them carefully or just quit the game and start a new one. While dying isn't expensive at this point (thanks to my relatively crappy gear), I don't want to die if I can help it.

Speaking of Hell, I love seeing weapon drops with 200+ DPS on them and I also love the frequent 600+ gold stacks. I even saw a 800+ gold stack once.

Auction House woes
I'm very pissed at Blizzard and their crappy Auction House. Commodity trading is completely screwed up. Thanks to this I lost a few hundred thousand gold over the past few days. It was partly my fault because I should have skipped trading until they fixed the damn thing but still... if this happens with the RMAH, I smell some lawsuits.

On the positive side, I discovered a surefire and risk-free method of making easy gold, something that I also used to do in WoW. Sorry, I won't disclose what it is because the competition this time is everyone on the US server. You'll have to discover it on your own.

Build and skills
My build has changed little from the previous day.
Build @ level 55 (available at 53)
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aZXgQj!ZYX!ZZZaac
The only difference is the access to the Earth Ally rune for Mystic Ally at level 53. This rune is pretty cool for survival because it gives you a 10% health boost, as long as your Ally is up.

Next, I will try to move slowly into Act 2 of Hell and will probably shoot for level 57 at the end of the day. Or, alternatively, I can go back and farm Act 4 Nightmare or Act 1 Hell.

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D3 Marathon - Day 8

On day 8 of my D3 marathon I went on a roll on the Monk and managed to level from 44 the previous day to 51. My DPS also jumped by a lot, from 900 to 2200. Current health is 14K.

I'm afraid he's an ugly-looking bastard at this point, with that nasty helm and hodge-podge equipment he's wearing. Oh well, good looks don't kill monsters.

I also finished Nightmare on my own and beat Diablo easily on the first attempt (also at level 51). I can tell you that 2200 DPS really makes a difference. I wouldn't have been able to plough through the last two acts in Nightmare if it hadn't been for the dagger/sword I am now wearing. I found both of these on the AH for about 6K each. I slapped some Rubies on them and there you have it: uber-DPS.

I have moved on into Hell but I'm still at the very first quests in Act 1. What's interesting is that the monsters aren't that hard to kill but their hit points have jumped up significantly. Also, when they hit, they hit hard. Luckily, those zombies at the beginning are slow as molasses and hit once in a blue moon. I'm pretty sure that, in order to beat Hell, I'm gonna need a lot more than 2K DPS, perhaps more along the lines of 5K-10K.

Speaking of weapons, I much prefer 1-handed fast weapons to the 2-handed polearm I was wearing yesterday. The Monk becomes a machine-gun with these fast weapons.

Now, the cool thing is that I got Azmodan (Act 3 boss) on farm mode in Nightmare. From levels 47-50 I farmed this dude exclusively. The reason why this works so well is that when you pick the quest "Kill Azmodan" and complete it, you get two different quest credits (along with XP and gold rewards). One is right after killing Azmodan, while the other is after going back to town, speaking to the guard dude and then climbing on the ramparts.

So the "farming" part is solely for the XP. Azmodan himself doesn't drop anything of worth, nor does he give much XP. But I also take the time to clear the mobs in the zone leading up to him. Another cool thing about this quest is that the zone that spans from the waypoint to Azmodan's lair is static. You could even rush through it without engaging mobs, if you can stun/slow them somehow. But I wanted to kill them each time, both for XP and items/gold.

It's pretty cool, if I start having difficulties in Hell I'm definitely going back to farm Azmodan for some more XP. At level 50 you need about 3 of these runs to gain a level. Pretty nifty. A run shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes, depending which champions/rares you run into. It happened that I came across some nasty Arcane enchanted mobs with another dangerous affix, and instead of risking dying (I knew they would be trouble), I simply started a new game after porting back to town.

Auction House adventures
If it hasn't sunk in already, I highly recommend looking for bargains on the AH. It's a very easy way to increase your damage and survivability and it shouldn't cost you a lot. After all, that's how I bought my two nice weapons, as well as other upgrades. I paid a total of 17K for these two weapons. Totally worth every little penny.

Build and skills
My build has continued to evolve, little by little. Now I just run with a single build instead of having a grinding and a boss build. Things have become tougher and I am trying to play more defensively. It amazes me sometimes how the Monk can escape some very hairy situations.

Build @ level 51 (available at 39)
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aZXgQj!ZYX!ZZZaab
(Sorry about linking it this way, I'm still having trouble with linking the build properly)

The main highlight is that I picked the Sweeping Armada rune for Lashing Tail Kick because it helps a lot with those nasty mobs. If I get surrounded or my health is dangerously low or if I'm facing champions/rares with dangerous affixes, I can just kick them away and they are thrown much farther thanks to the rune, not to mention that their speed is also slowed for 2 seconds. This allows me to regroup/escape/heal or simply pick them off one by one.

I'm keeping Mystic Ally for now because this little dude continues to impress me. First, I don't have to micro-manage him. Second, he seems very tough and very often can take more damage than me. For example in Act 4 there are some huge monsters called Mallet Lords. These dudes can kill me in 2-3 hits, despite my Monky Zen and they also have a lot of health. But with the Mystic Ally, I can use him as a meat shield. I will stay back, let him engage, and then rush to engage the monster myself. My dude will take 2 hits and die while in the meantime I can whittle the monster's health down to 50% or so. Then I can pop a Serenity and finish him off.

So that's about it for now. I'll be fighting my way through Hell, next.

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D3 Marathon - Day 7

On day 7 I'm becoming even more comfortable with my Monk. At the end of the day he is level 44, with about 1.1K DPS and 7K+ health. This may not seem enough but I can explain.

I was playing with this Demon Hunter who was lower level than me. I asked what his DPS was. Mine was 900 at the time and I was feeling pretty good about it. He surprised me when he said 1600. But then he said that he spent a bunch of gold on the Auction House buying upgrades. Fair enough.

Regardless of DPS, the Monk feels just right. I run a defensive build, with a lot of passive and active healing and it seems to work very well so far. I will detail the build shortly.

Here's my Monk, at level 44, with his new polearm. I gave up a shield for now, but I'd like to take one up again, for the extra armor. Also, I prefer a faster weapon, but this 2-hander was very cheap on the Auction House and it gave me a very nice DPS and health boost.

Also notice that I changed my banner. Yeah, ok, banners are not so bad after all.

I'm tempted to play with some armor dyes but I realize it would be a waste of gold right now so I'm putting it off until much later, after the RMAH is released.

Build and skills
I love how my build evolves slowly from one day to the next. Today I'm using a slightly different build than on day 6.

Grinding build @ level 44 (available at 39).
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#aZXfQj21aYaaaaaaaaab!ZYX!ZaaZab
The main highlight is that I replaced Crippling Wave (regretfully) with Fists of Thunder runed with Lightning Flash. The reason is twofold: first, it generates more Spirit; second, it increases my Dodge by 16% as long as I'm hitting stuff with Fists of Thunder.
The other thing is that I replaced the Water Ally rune for Mystic Ally with Air Ally. While the little dude seems to do slightly less damage, occasionally he gives me a huge Spirit boost thanks to the rune.

The main reason for these changes is that I kept finding myself starved of Spirit. I need a build which could generate lots of Spirit, especially since spending Spirit also heals me thanks to the Transcendence passive. This build is an improvement but still not perfect. If you have any suggestions on how to improve my Spirit generation even further, I'd be grateful.

Boss build @ level 44 (available at 39).
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#UZXgQj21aYaaaaaaaaab!ZYX!ZaZaab
The boss build remains almost unchanged, except for the Mystic Ally rune. The other minor change is that I'm now using Breath of Heaven with Circle of Life instead of Circle of Scorn, for even more healing. Truth be told, I'm not even sure this last change is warranted. With this build I'm not taking enough damage from act bosses to make the extra healing mandatory.

I can see myself later on replacing Mystic Ally with Inner Sanctuary runes with Safe Haven or Consecration or Circle of Protection. So many choices. This would make for the ultimate tank.

Auction House
Speaking of the Auction House, I have become a convert. Not that I wasn't before, but I didn't expect I would end up searching actively for upgrades. I decided to upgrade some lousy pieces of equipment I had and in short order bought, for a total of 6K gold, 3 rare pieces which boosted my DPS by over 100, as well as my health and other stats. Was it worth it? Hell yeah! I can make 6K in less than 5 minutes on Nightmare.

The polearm/pike thing you see in the screenshot was also purchased for 6K gold and this alone improved my DPS by an additional 200.

I have also discovered an easy method to search for the best deals on the AH, but I will have to write a standalone article on the subject. UPDATE: never mind. Great minds think alike. Meldora posted the exact same thing, along with a video showing how it's done, on d3artisans.

A friend from Europe has also mentioned he was using the AH for upgrades. I'm telling you, if you want to rely solely on items you find on your own, that's fine. But in Nightmare things are getting hairy and you might suffer greatly for it. My friend's Wizard has 2K DPS and 12K health at level 47 but still struggles in Nightmare Act 3. Now, this is very subjective because, in comparison, my Monk has a bit over half his stats but he doesn't have a lot of problems, also in Act 3 Nightmare.

Auction House bugs
The AH might be great for finding item upgrades but it suffers from some serious bugs, currently. First, there's a major bug that prevents you from selling high(er) level gems. This is especially true of Perfect Square and Radiant Square gems. Basically you post the gem on the AH but other players can't buy it. I don't even think they will see it, even if it is the lowest priced. There's an elaborate trick involved that seems to fix this issue but such workarounds are ridiculous and shouldn't be needed at all. Damn you Blizzard, fix this right now!

Apart from that, I got some serious errors when trying to purchase some Tomes of Secrets. These are reagents for crafting some higher level gems. I spent over 20 minutes trying to buy 6 lousy Tomes. After placing the buy order I waited for several minutes while the order was "processed". Then, each time I got an error that my request failed. Problem was, the gold was deducted from my account. In the end, I found that I had purchased 2 stacks of 6 Tomes each, instead of just 1 stack, but there was a lot of gold missing (about 100K or so). Each time I clicked "Buy" my gold seems to have disappeared into a black hole of some sort.

It is possible that I will get a refund of all that gold. Last night when I went to bed I didn't see it, but I'm hoping today, after their damn maintenance, I will.

So yeah, be very careful when buying certain commodities. If you get a very long delay when placing an order and then an error message, stop buying.

Crafting
I managed to sink a couple hundred thousand gold in leveling my Jewelcrafter. My intentions were good. Studying the gem prices on the Auction House it became clear that I could make a profit by crafting the highest level gems available so far in the game. Currently these are Radiant Square Rubies. Well, Rubies seem to be the most profitable.

There were two problems with this strategy. First, I lost all that gold trying to buy Tomes of Secrets. Second, no one can buy the first gem I crafted because I forgot that the trick I linked above involved exactly 2 gems. So now I have 2 choices: take a loss and use the gem myself on my Monk's weapon (which would give him yet another DPS boost), or risk crafting a second gem. In the meantime, prices may drop even further, nullifying any profits.

I'll see how it goes after the game is back online. But the outlook is grim. I don't understand why it's so hard for them to fix these serious AH issues. I can't even imagine if shit like this happens with the RMAH. Either way, this is inexcusable. Gold will translate very shortly into real money. So if the system eats my gold, it is essentially eating my hard-earned cash.

Items and farming
In Nightmare Act 2 you will start seeing Perfect gems drop. In Act 3 you will see Radiant gems.

I did a tally of how much gold I can "farm" in an hour and it comes to about 50K per hour in Nightmare Act 2. 30K are from picking up gold and vendoring blue/rare items. The rest are from the value of gems and pages of crafting which I find in an hour and sell on the AH. Not too shabby. I'm sure that amount would be even more if I focused exclusively on farming, but now's not the time. Gotta get to 60 first.

While killing stuff in Act 2, my Monk found this really nice 117.6 DPS bow, the first weapon with more than 100 DPS. He, of course, passed it on to the Demon Hunter whereupon the latter's DPS rocketed up to about 1600. And by the way, these are exactly the stats I'm looking for in a DH item: Dex and Vit. This bow has plenty of both.

Another Scoundrel piece of wisdom
In closing I will leave you with another lol moment, courtesy of the Scoundrel follower.

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I killed Bashiok!

Heh, I just killed Bashiok, Diablo 3's community manager. Well, not the literal person but a monster in game bearing his name. Here are a couple of screenshots. My Monk encountered him on Nightmare difficulty in Act 2.

If you didn't know, there's a chance you will encounter rare spawns with the names of Diablo 3 developers and community members.

In this case he was a Fallen Shaman and had the tag "Death is not the end". I'm not sure if he can spawn as other types of monster but from my vague understanding, I don't think so. Either way, the fight itself was easy.

Have you killed any Blizzard employees lately?

D3 Marathon - Day 6

Well, I just had to do it. On day 6 I decided that I would forsake my Demon Hunter and make the Monk my main, instead. So far it seems I made the right decision. I am enjoying my Monk a lot more than the DH. Not only does he kick ass but he can hold his own easily in Nightmare, something that the DH was struggling with.

The Monk
At level 26 the Monk already had 354 DPS in Act 3 (Normal), thanks to a nice rare spear found by my Demon Hunter, socketed with a +10-20 damage gem.

At the end of the day I managed to level him to 35 (!!) and beat the Skeleton King on Nightmare. Do I even have to mention that I killed Diablo on my own? That's nothing. Big, bad Diablo didn't even put a scratch on the Monk. I was telling you on day 4 that the Demon Hunter struggled with Diablo and I didn't feel at all confident that I could take him on my own.

The Monk snorts in disdain at this ridiculous concept. He stormed through Act 4 in 1 hour and kicked Diablo's ass so hard that he won't even be there in Nightmare difficulty.

I won't lie to you, I managed to die a couple of times by random mobs. But the keyword here is "couple". With the right combinations of active and passive skills the Monk shines. Well, at least so far. I'll have to see how he performs in Hell and Inferno.

At level 35 the Monk has 530 DPS and he's not even wearing his "boss boots" which give an additional 40 DPS, as well as hit points, at the expense of movement speed.

Build and skills
On the Monk I use two different skill setups depending on whether I'm playing through the levels or  fighting a boss. Here they are.

Grinding build @ level 32
I had to give up the Fleet Footed passive but survival has become more important than running speed. Besides, I found a pair of 10% movement speed boots, so that makes up for it. I also adopted Mystic Ally and this little dude kicks some serious ass. He can finish stray mobs on his own, even on Nightmare. I've only seen him die once, on Diablo, I believe. But he's a short cast away.

Boss build @ level 32
My boss build swaps Cyclone Strike for Serenity and also Crippling Wave for Way of the Hundred Fists. In other words, I'm giving up a couple of AoE skills for single target damage and even more survivability. There's so much passive and active healing in this build, it's not even funny.

Grouping
I am starting to wonder what the point is in grouping with other people when I'm running with my Monk. Most often, I do more damage than they do, so they are essentially dragging me down. And then, they are always slacking off, usually AFK. One chap was even busy leveling his Jewelcrafter while I was kicking monster butt for more than half an hour.

I did have a very nice group late last night. One of the buddies on my friends list was in a group and they had a free spot. Even though I was already in Nightmare and they were running through Act 3 Normal, I decided to join them. That was a very good group. Massive damage and the mobs were dropping like flies. Unfortunately, him and his wife (both were playing) had to put their kids to sleep so we called it a night.

It's a pleasure to be in groups like that. But most often I end up with people who just don't seem to want to play. But it's ok, as a Monk I don't need any help and I can tackle most situations on my own.

Gold and auction house
At the end of the day I had 721K gold with over 100K stuck in a failed "investment". I could kick myself for being so rash but now it's too late. Playing the market can backfire sometimes.

Other thoughts
I just love it when I'm playing a melee character and a caster champion/rare has the Vortex modifier. It makes for a very lol moment. Thanks buddy! Now I don't have to chase you down.

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D3 Marathon - Day 5

Demon Hunter
Well folks, I'm in a bit of an impasse. You see, I have run out of steam with my Demon Hunter. He finally made it to level 40 after long struggles. He's in Nightmare Act 2 right now but he's having a very hard time with the monsters.

There are very frequent packs of champions and rares now which the DH can barely survive on his own. In one instance I kited a pack of champions across the whole map, all the way back into town, with barely a sliver of my life remaining. In the end I killed them at the town entrance where they couldn't pass.

His DPS is 698 at this point, with 4786 hit points.

Grouping up with people didn't help a lot. I hate the fact that the game, more often than not, teams you up with just one more person, instead of 2-3. And very often, this other person is also a ranged class, another DH or a Wizard. Two ranged classes in Nightmare are a recipe for disaster, with the sort of mobs that spawn.

Some of my "favorite" champion/rare modifiers are Jailer/Mortar. Then there's Vortex, of course, which is the bane of any ranged character, and Fast, which pretty much ignores all your slowing attempts with Caltrops or whatnot.

No, at this point I am giving up on the Demon Hunter. It has stopped being fun and now it's downright frustrating. I don't want to spend 5 minutes running away each time I encounter a pack of champions.

Monk
I have decided, almost a week too late, that perhaps the Monk would have been a better first class choice. I spent most of day 5 leveling my Monk who is now level 21.

I find the Monk's gameplay incredible, so far. His moves are out of this world. Here's my level 21 build. Crippling Wave and Exploding Palm are my favorite skills.

I am hoping, over the next couple of days, to get close to level 40 with the Monk and then compare his survivability with that of the Demon Hunter.

Once, I ran in a group with my Demon Hunter, a Monk and another class, on Nightmare. The Monk was so badass, she could handle entire groups of monsters on her own, without our assistance. Her equipment didn't seem out of the ordinary so I'm thinking that Monks are probably better at holding their own.

At any rate, I'm hoping that a melee class won't need to run away from monsters like the Demon Hunter is forced to.

Banners
About a week ago I was being dismissive about banners. Well, maybe they're not so bad after all. I also spent a few minutes playing with my banner and you might have noticed that I changed it a bit. I just wish there were additional ways in which to customize characters cosmetically.

I'm keeping it short for today because I want to put in some leveling time with my Monk. Catch y'all tomorrow!

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D3 Marathon - Day 4

On day 4, because my Demon Hunter was having some difficulties in Act 4, I decided to trade some Dexterity for Vitality. It was very risky going with only 1600 HP. Even though my DPS dropped, my survivability improved.

Performance metrics
At the end of day 4 my Demon Hunter was level 38. On this day, I had only played 6 hours on the DH, for a total of 26 hours 15 minutes. On the other hand, I did put in some time on my Monk, that I leveled to 15, as well as the Witch Doctor (10) and Wizard (9).

My Demon Hunter's DPS went from 406 to 690.

My gold is now 465K, and that's after buying the remaining space in my first shared stash tab for 20K.


Inventory management
My inventory was becoming a big problem. The shared stash was full and I had to make frequent trips to town on my Demon Hunter to sell stuff. Eventually I took the time to create 4 more mule characters (for a total of 5) and successfully transferred all the crap that was taking up space in the shared stash. I will probably do a post on this aspect of inventory management alone, because I think it is a fairly organized way to do it.

Beat Normal
I finally finished Act 4 and the act's boss. OK, at this point it shouldn't be much of a spoiler if I tell you that the boss is Diablo. After all, the game is called Diablo, right? When you're solo, your follower is disabled before the last battle. He gets trapped in a bone cage. Not fair!

The fight has 3 phases and I died on the second phase. I realized that, due to the nature of the fight, I would have a very hard time completing this on my own. So, once again, I decided to join a group. A Barbarian and I managed to kill Diablo but we both came close to dying. It was the first time for both of us. I have to say, it's a tough fight. I wouldn't have stood a chance if I hadn't donned that Vitality gear, I can tell you that.

In the end, I finished Normal difficulty on my Demon Hunter at level 33 with 21 hours and 50 minutes on this character.

SPOILER

Diablo seems to be a girl. Well, (s)he should be, considering. But it was hard to tell in the heat of battle. Problem is, the voice is male.

Zones and monsters
After I beat Normal, I couldn't wait to start Nightmare. Man, Nightmare is a lot harder than Normal, I can tell you that! Even at level 33 (which, I believe, is ahead of the curve) it was tough for me. Starting in Nightmare, I grouped up every time. The mobs are vicious, they have tons of HP and there are packs upon packs of rare bosses and champions, now with 2 modifiers. They kick ass so hard that I died a dozen times in the first half of Act 1. I wasn't alone in my predicament. Many of my group mates also died about the same number of times even though they seemed to be better equipped.

I was glad to be back in Act 1. After going through it again with the Demon Hunter and also my lower level characters, especially the Monk, I realized how much I like the design of this act. The zones are very varied and change often. The only repetitive zones are the Cathedral levels but that's ok. I seriously believe that Act 1 is the best act in Diablo 3. It feels leagues ahead of Acts 3 and 4 in terms of diversity and art.

Items and Gold Auction House
In Act 1 Nightmare flawless gems have started to drop. Also, there's been an abundance of Jewelcrafting and Blacksmithing pages of training. Guess what? I sold all of those (a few dozen of them) on the GAH. There's no point in using them right now because the prices are relatively high. I'm gonna sell them now and, if I need to, buy them later for much less. Besides, they sell almost instantly.

When I sell pages of training I look at how much 100 of them cost, not 1, not even 10. Whenever you look at the price of 1 unit (for commodities), you might be fooled into pricing your own items too low. That's why it makes sense to search for 100 pieces or even more.

One final thing about items is that the Skeleton King had some really crappy drops in Nightmare. Just 2 blue items! I guess that was the luck of the draw.

Oh, here's a funny item I found. Department of Redundancy Department? Yep.

Monk
I have started to level my Monk in groups and I am very impressed so far. I'm afraid he might steal the crown from my Demon Hunter. I just love the gameplay. Granted, he inherited a lot of good stuff from the DH, including some kick-ass weapons for his level. In 3-4 man groups he can kick ass on his own, and kick it real hard. But then again, at these low levels, on Normal, monsters aren't very challenging.

Excuse that piss-bucket my Monk is wearing on his head. It makes him look goofy but I'm sure it will be replaced soon. The claws, on the other hand, are wicked.

That's about it for day 4. I'm relieved I finished Normal so that I can now focus on leveling the Demon Hunter exclusively in groups. The monsters are much harder but the loot is also better, not to mention the gold which drops in higher quantities (200 gold stacks anyone?).

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Character names

Today, in world premiere, I'm going to reveal the names that I will give each class when Diablo 3 is released. I talked before about class and gender choices and I can safely say, after playing each gender for each class in the beta, that I have made a final decision.

Demon Hunter - Male - Prometheus
I picked the name for two reasons. First, there's Prometheus in Greek mythology whose story I find extremely fascinating. I mean, stealing from the gods, defying them to the very last, that takes balls man! Besides, the male Demon Hunter can very well be Greek, with his darkish looks. The second reason is that my most anticipated movie this year is, you guessed it, Prometheus.

Wizard - Female - Andromeda
The Wizard fires galaxies and Andromeda is one of my favorite galaxies, so there you go. Besides, I think the name sounds really cool.

Barbarian - Male - Orion
I have always liked the name Orion, as it applies to the constellation and the mythical character. OK, I admit that Orion The Hunter might be better suited for the Demon Hunter but in my mind it feels like this is a very good name for the Barbarian.

Monk - Male - Rasputin
In a departure from Greek mythology, I am naming my male Monk Rasputin. Why? Well, it should be obvious. Diablo 3's Monk evidently hails from Russia, and that beard is a dead giveaway. Not that I admire the real Rasputin or anything, but I think the association (and coincidence) is funny.

Witch Doctor - Female - Arachne
I struggled with this one for a long time. Finally I turned back to Greek mythology and settled upon the name Arachne. Why? Because the Witch Doctor plays with spiders, among other things.

So these are my choices. I'd be interested to hear some opinions/criticisms. I would also enjoy it if you shared your own characters' names in the comments. Come on, don't be shy!

The beta Monk

When the Monk class was revealed I thought "This isn't my type". In the beta, so far, the Monk has been a lot more fun than I anticipated. Diablo 3 only has 2 melee classes (pending an expansion) but I like the Monk more than the Barbarian. I was even considering making it my main in the full game but at heart I am a ranged player, through and through.

The Monk is Diablo 3's Bruce Lee. (S)he has access to a wide range of skills using fists, feet, elbows and other body parts. But fear not, the Monk can equip weapons just like any other class and the damage it deals is based on the DPS of those weapons.

When I rethought my choice of genders, I firmly settled on the male. In patch 15 I played a male Monk to 13 and after the patch 16 character wipe I decided to try a female. For some reason I don't enjoy playing the female as much as I liked the male. There's no rationale behind this but I felt that the male had more "impact".

This class review would have been out sooner, had it not been for the patch 16 character reset. It forced me to play the class again from scratch, just to experience the new skills and runes. Although the changes aren't that big, with a couple of runes swapped for their higher level counterparts, it does make the class perform subtly differently.

The Monk uses Spirit as a resource. Spirit appears as a swirly, milky liquid which might give the wrong connotation but it is what it is. You start with 150 Spirit and there's a passive skill (at just level 13) which adds another 100 to your pool. Spirit doesn't recharge on its own, neither does it deplete. Instead, it is replenished by using the Monk's primary offensive skills. All other skills (secondary, defensive and so on) consume Spirit. In other words you build Spirit with your primary skills and use it for more powerful skills and abilities.

Read my quick primer on how skill slots work in Diablo 3, if you don't know that already.

Next is a review of all the skills and runes in the beta, broken down by skill slot, with the usual disclaimer that these are my own opinions and tastes.


Primary (left mouse - slot unlocked at level 1)
Lv 1 - Fists of Thunder
You start the game with this skill. It's pretty straightforward: each hit generates 6 Spirit and does 110% weapon damage in the form of Lightning. Like most of the Monk's primary skills, this one has a special effect on the third strike. In this case, the effect is to deal damage to all enemies in front of you, also knocking them back a few yards. This is a very solid primary skill which is just as good at level 13 as it is at level 1.
    Lv 6 - Rune - Thunderclap
This rune used to be higher level before patch 16 but now it has been swapped with Bounding Light which is now level 52. Thunderclap improves Fists of Thunder a lot. Now you will teleport a short distance to your target and hit them, also dealing 35% AoE Lightning damage to targets around you in a 6 yard radius. Believe me when I tell you that this rune makes Fists of Thunder an amazing skill, one that I am still using at level 13 and I have a feeling I'll be using at much higher levels.
Lv 3 - Deadly Reach
At level 3 you get the chance to try another primary skill. Deadly Reach projects beams of "force" as you hit for 110% weapon damage. Each third hit extends 25 yards in front. The first hit projects 1 beam, the second 2 beams and the third 3 beams. Each beam can hit a different monster. So this skill has a moderate AoE effect. I find it great for smashing objects such as urns and barrels. This skill also generates 6 Spirit per hit.
    Lv 9 - Rune - Piercing Trident
At level 9, Deadly Reach is enhanced by the Piercing Trident rune. This rune simply "increases the area of effect of the second and third strikes". I haven't really noticed a big difference here but in the beta this is the only rune for this skill so you might as well grab it.
Lv 11 - Crippling Wave
In addition to generating 6 Spirit per hit, Crippling Wave does some AoE damage in the form of a sweeping attack which hits monsters in front of your character for 110% weapon damage. Each third hit strikes all the monsters around you, slowing them down by 30% and also slows their attacks by 20% for 3 seconds. Though I wasn't impressed by this skill, I can imagine that it will come in handy at higher difficulty levels where you need to keep enemies under control, with as many debuffs as possible.

Secondary (right mouse - slot unlocked at level 2)
Lv 2 - Lashing Tail Kick
My favorite secondary skill comes very early, at level 2. This is, by far, my favorite way of spending Spirit. The Monk spin-kicks all enemies in a 360 degree circle for a healthy 200% weapon damage and knocks them back across the screen. It's actually funny to see those monsters flung like rag dolls. I'm afraid that the effect might be too much and Blizzard will tone it down at some point. In the meantime I'm gonna enjoy it, especially since the cost is comparatively low, only 30 Spirit. With a full Spirit bulb you can do 5 of these kicks in a row for a total potential damage of 1000%. This skill is best used when surrounded by monsters, so you can hit as many of them as possible. I like wading into huge groups of monsters and unleashing a couple of "tail kicks". This skill works equally well on bosses such as the Skeleton King as a Spirit spender because each hit does 200% damage to single monsters or multiple ones, regardless.
    Lv 7 - Rune - Vulture Claw Kick
Wait, does Lashing Tail Kick even need a rune? Of course it does. This rune that you get at level 7 makes an awesome skill even awesomer. It converts the damage to Fire and ups it to 220% weapon damage.
Lv 5 - Tempest Rush
Now here's a skill that took me a while to understand. This is a channeled skill, meaning that for best results you need to hold the mouse button pressed while you are using it. It causes your character to dash around the screen (guided by the mouse, of course) and knock back all the enemies in its path, slowing them down by 60% for 2 seconds and dealing 50% weapon damage to them. I'm trying to find a purpose for this skill but I simply can't justify the high Spirit cost. Lashing Tail Kick does a ton more damage and it also knocks back enemies, but whatever, try Tempest Rush and use it if you like it. It's an interesting concept but I have a feeling it is very situational and not very useful in most cases.
    Lv 11 - Rune - Northern Breeze
Tempest Rush gets a rune. Yay. The rune reduces the cost of the skill somewhat. While you're channeling it, instead of using 10 Spirit, it uses only 8. Is that on a per second basis? Maybe.
Lv 12 - Wave of Light
Another visually impressive skill which failed to impress me. You might have seen this used in gameplay videos. The visual is rather striking because the Monk calls down a giant "bell" thing which slams down in front of him and does 215% weapon damage as Holy, presumably in a small radius, as well as an additional 45% damage to all enemies in a line. As I said, this is a weird skill. I've seen very few Monks use it and personally I dislike it because of the "line" aspect which requires you to be very careful with positioning, before using this skill. You don't want to waste it by having that damage go in a direction where there aren't any enemies. Apart from that, the cost is prohibitive: at 75 Spirit you can only use it twice in a row before you run out dry. Once again, I think Lashing Tail Kick is a much better (and waaay cheaper) choice.

Defensive ("1" key - slot unlocked at level 4)
Lv 4 - Blinding Flash
The Monk's first defensive spell, which comes at level 4, can be very useful. This is a debuff which blinds enemies in a 20 yard radius and makes them wonder around in confusion for 3 seconds. The cost is low (10 Spirit) but there's a 15 second cooldown. This is a good spell to use whenever you are surrounded and in danger, or whenever you want to take as little damage as possible when charging into a group of monsters.
    Lv 12 - Rune - Self Reflection
This rune increases Blinding Flash's duration from 3 to 4 seconds. Nothing major here but you might as well grab that 1 extra second.
 Lv 8 - Breath of Heaven
The Monk is the only class in Diablo 3 which can actively heal herself (and her allies within 12 yards) and Breath of Heaven is the skill which accomplishes this. I tend to prefer this over Blinding Flash and it gets a fair amount of usage. Not only can you use this in a support role, whenever a nearby ally is low on health, but you can use it as a third healing option (apart from healing orbs and potions). This skill has a 15 second cooldown and a 25 Spirit cost.

Techniques ("2" key - slot unlocked at level 9)
Lv 9 - Dashing Strike
Dashing Strike is like a WoW Warrior's Charge. You charge at the target (for 25 Spirit) and root them in place for 1 second, while dealing 100% weapon damage. I find the Spirit cost to be a bit steep but this skill allows me to instantly position myself in the middle of a large group of monsters where I can unleash destruction with Lashing Tail Kick. It is also very useful for killing ranged enemies or for catching up with that pesky Treasure Goblin. I'm pretty sure it will also be very popular in PvP.
Lv 13 - Exploding Palm
Exploding Palm is a DoT skill, which does 220% weapon damage to the target, over 3 seconds. If the target dies during this time, it will explode and damage nearby monsters for 30% of the target's maximum life. This one is interesting but also a bit situational. It will obviously work best if used on monsters with a lot of health (such as champions, rares, bosses and so on) which are also surrounded by lots of minions. Even then, you will have to refresh the spell until the monster dies. I haven't found anything to hint that the DoT is over so I'm always worried that I might refresh it too early or too late. At 40 Spirit, it is also rather costly so I find myself circling back to Lashing Tail Kick which does more AoE (and the same amount of single-target) damage but costs less. Now, of course, it is hard to judge the true merits of this skill because it is un-runed. The proper rune could transform it into something much more useful.

Passive Skills (1st slot unlocked at level 10)
Level 10 can't come quickly enough because this is where each class gets access to its first 2 passive skills.
Lv 10 - Fleet Footed
The Monk starts with an excellent passive. Fleet Footed gives a flat 10% increase in movement speed. I do believe this stacks with other movement enhancements. This passive is so good that it overshadows the rest of the ones available in the beta. It makes the Monk feel very quick on her feet.
Lv 10 - Resolve
This passive is hard to quantify because you can't exactly measure the damage that monsters do, but from the looks of it, it is a permanent 25% damage reduction, because you are kicking ass constantly, right? This is a very solid passive which will be invaluable in Inferno but in the beta I just don't die on my Monk so it is irrelevant.
Lv 13 - Exalted Soul
Another solid passive, Exalted Soul simply increases your maximum Spirit by 100 for a total of 250. Depending on your style of play, this can allow you to use Spirit-intensive skills more often.

Next, I will talk about my level progression from 1-13.

Level Progression

Level 1
You start with Fists of Thunder. Use it and learn to love it.

Level 2
Lashing Tail Kick becomes the first secondary skill.

Level 3
Deadly Reach is another primary skill. I suggest sticking with Fists of Thunder.

Level 4
Defensive skills are unlocked, and the first one is Blinding Flash. No other choice but to use it, especially since it's a very solid skill.

Level 5
Tempest Rush is now available as a secondary skill. I suggest ignoring it.

Level 6
Ah, runes finally. Thunderclap enhances Fists of Thunder. Your bread-and-butter gets some jam to go with it.

Level 7
Another rune becomes available. Vulture Claw Kick improves Lashing Tail Kick and makes it awesomer.

Level 8
Breath of Heaven is your second defensive skill. If you like healing yourself (and others) grab it instead of Blinding Flash.

Level 9
The 4th skill slot is unlocked and it can be filled with a technique called Dashing Strike.
The Piercing Trident rune which improves Deadly Reach also becomes available.

Level 10
Passives are in the house. You have a choice between Fleet Footed and Resolve. I suggest the former.

Level 11
The 3rd primary skill, Crippling Wave, is available.
Another rune, Northern Breeze, enhances Tempest Rush.

Level 12
Another secondary skill is unlocked: Wave of Light. Yawn.

Level 13
Finally, at the beta level cap, you get the Exploding Palm technique which could replace Dashing Strike. Whatever.
Another passive, Exalted Soul, is unlocked.


This concludes my discussion of the Monk in Diablo 3's beta (patch 16, subject to change in future patches or the final game). My level 13 Monk beta build is simple and fun. Exploding Palm is something that I don't use very often but I can easily replace with Dashing Strike, the overall effect being negligible. The Monk is a lot of fun to play and it trumps the Barbarian in my mind. It will most likely be the first melee class I try in the full game. I have a feeling that the Monk will be particularly well suited to Inferno, with very high Dexterity which will give it tons of Dodge and also the various debuffs that it can apply to targets.


Also read:
The beta Demon Hunter
The beta Witch Doctor
The beta Wizard
The beta Barbarian

Class genders revisited

A looong time ago before I was even dreaming of getting into the beta, I made a tentative decision about which genders I would choose for each class in the full game. Now, after gaining some experience with all the 5 classes, I thought I could make a more informed decision. I was wrong. I hadn't yet seen these class armor set videos. Make sure to watch them, they are definitely worth it.

Here are my impressions after watching these videos.

Barbarian
I like the sets a lot. The look very barbaric, especially the early ones. Later ones are really awesome. These make me want to play a Barbarian.

Demon Hunter
I mentioned repeatedly that I would be playing the Demon Hunter as my first class. The sets are okay-ish but some of the helms are ridiculous.

Monk
The Monk's sets are the ugliest of the bunch. It makes both genders look like clowns.

Wizard
The clothes themselves are very good but many of the shoulders and helms but are ridiculous.

Witch Doctor
I like the Witch Doctor's sets a lot. The hats, especially, are awesome. I can only imagine how cool they look when actually playing the game.

And now for some revised impressions of each class gender.

Barbarian Male
The Barbarian male is the actual Barbarian from Diablo 2, only aged about 20 years. I like the dude. He looks powerful and experienced and he won't take shit from anyone.
Barbarian Female
I was planning to play a Barb female because I like how she looks. She has nice curves, she looks powerful and muscular. But I dislike her voice and she reminds me too much of Fiona, the ogre from Shrek. Besides, she could easily be the male Barb's daughter, much less experienced and a lot more naive.
Verdict
I choose the male Barbarian.

Demon Hunter Male
This dude looks like a jerk. I hate his hunched-over posture and how he holds his arms at his side. Also, he's too thin.
Demon Hunter Female
Her posture makes her look like a stuck-up bitch.
Verdict
It's hard to make a decision here. I think I'm gonna go with the female, as she seems to be the lesser of two evils.

Monk Male
I like the male Monk. He reminds me a lot of Rasputin, with his beard and accent. He looks suitably powerful and I liked how items in the beta looked on him.
Monk Female
I don't know what to make of her. She doesn't seem to be related to the male in any way, not even by race. Are they both Russian? They could be, but something about her doesn't click.
Verdict
I choose the male Monk.

Wizard Male
The male Wizard looks like a wimpy 16-17 year old. He could be the female Wizards younger brother.
Wizard Female
She is smoking hot, especially without armor. I'm in looove with her.
Verdict
Female Wizard all the way!

Witch Doctor Male
What the hell is wrong with this guy? Not only is he shaking like he's got Parkinson's (at his age the chances of that disease are high) but he's got a damn potbelly! Oh and I don't like his voice. Not the accent, just the voice.
Witch Doctor Female
She's much better than the male, and hot looking to boot. And she doesn't shake.
Verdict
Female Witch Doctor all the way!

The class set videos have definitely helped me in my decision-making but unfortunately the Demon Hunter suffers from both lackluster sets and annoying character design. But that's purely my opinion so feel free to disagree with me in the comments.