Actually, I have a large number of smaller charms (one square) which are reasonably effective, but I do still have two larger ones that give me some effects that I don't have any other way.

I don't have backup equipment, there's too many gemstones, runestones and jewels in my stash to save equipment. So I have to retrieve my equipment to go on.

And yes, if you exit the game at any point, you have to fight everything again. I did have to make 3 tries at the second quest because if you try to release the barbarians before killing all the mini-bosses, you can't finish the quest. Save, exit and return and everything is reset.

I just look at that as extra experience points. Have you found any set items yet (name is green). The first two I found didn't fit well with an assassin, but the third was some reasonable armor.

Hi,

Well still at it with my Sorceress and just about to give up with her and move on but somehow I just can't give up on her and keep trying and trying.

My favorite place to beef up is the Arcane Sanctuary because we can get most of them with our freeze spell and crossbow.

As far as the mini boss goes...my problem is that she is just not fast enough to get him and he keeps getting in the way of the Town Portal when we want to escape.

Well somehow she WILL do it

Whew, that was enough for one evening. Found the waypoints in Arreat Plateau and the Crystalline Passage. Cleared an optional area found behind a portal in the Arreat Plateau and recieved excellent goodies for my efforts.

Did you know that there is a "Cow" level given as a bonus??? Needing a travel Tome and ?????

Accessing the secret Cow level requires that you finish the whole game on Normal difficulty level first (including the expansion); the entire spoiler is found here:

ARREAT SUMMIT COW LEVEL INSTRUX

I did it once, it's pretty funny

I'm glad you mentioned this. I read a suggestion to go back to Act 3 and get a hireling, but saw no way to do it. Now that I look more closely, I see the act numbers at the top of the waypoint list. I don't think this was available without the expansion. I'm going back and get one with a cold spell to freeze those annoying imps.

Shenk would be a good one to rekill, since he is close to the waypoint I'm starting at.

Completed quest 2 and freed the barbarians. Anyone tried hiring them? I wonder how effective they are. Do they use only melee? My cold hireling from act 3 is doing so well I hate to fire him.

I had known about using the portals to go back to previous acts. I had used a portal to take me back to act 3 at one point so I could do some easy stuff as a break from trying to get into Diablo's santuary.

As for how the barbarians are as hirelings, I don't know. I still have my rogue from act 1. She's leveled up with me the whole game, but it's getting quite expensive to resurrect her! Hmm, I should check her equipment, I have plenty of gold for upgrades now. Though her bow is excellent, I've tried a few replacements but this one has better stats for her. Pokey, don't forget that now you can right-click their portrait and give them equipment!

And I am prepared for the secret cow portal. I have the key ingredient in my stash waiting for end of game.

Pokey, my sorceress used the barbarian hireling for a change of pace, he can equip 1 or 2 handed swords (but no shield). He was allright, but if yours is doing well, no need to switch.

I see we are coming to the icelands with cold resistant monsters, so I'll probably switch to the barbarian or a hireling with fire spells. I'm not getting any good loot, usually a few potions and maybe a so-so weapon. No jewels at all yet.

So the three mini bosses you defeated in the Frigid Plains dropped nothing good? Bad luck, I usually got at least one reasonable weapon/armor piece that sold for a respectable amount of cash (after repairing it). It may help that I had to take two of them out a couple of times because I needed to restart the area 'you can't finish this quest'.

Do try the portals in each of these areas, there is a chest loaded with gold and goodies at the end of the run. Fairly small and straight-forward to clear out.

Jewels and runes are rare drops, I haven't had a jewel drop in quite some time. You should be getting nice gemstones (emerald, diamond, ruby, sapphire, topaz) at least some of the time though.

I meant gems that you put in sockets. What are jewels? I've never seen any.

Jewels are another thing to put in sockets. Unlike gems, they tend to have 1 or two effects no matter what class of item you put them in (a jewel may give you +2 dexerity once placed in a socket). Gems have different effects in weapon vs armor vs shield. Jewels tend to have gold edges with a gemstone like center.

Jewels and runes were introduced in the expansion (I think) so it's not surprising you haven't hit any jewels yet.

We made it to the Crystalline Passage waypoint before quitting for the night. My cold hireling died so I went with the barbarian and he is doing okay, though I miss the freezing, which makes it easy finish off the monsters. The hireling was killing most of them himself.

Is the extra gold over 150,000 supposed to be safe next to the stash as long as you pick it up when you exit the game? I left a pile and noticed later that it was gone. I am finding better stuff now and more gold.

I believe that nothing in the game is safe if you leave it on the ground. You must still be under level 30 though. I did a lot of buffing and am level 32 - my stash holds 800,000 gold now! It was weird how fast the cash levels went up just at level 31.