Ok, my bad, you older Cheerful Ghosts have discussed it. That post was written "over two years ago." This Cheerful Ghost (me) is just almost a year old. Even though I did back track and read a lot of posts, I obviously missed that one. I think that's because I didn't get into D3 until after I did that. So, this is a bit of a double post, but it's in the forums, instead of the main page. This post could also help generate some new discussion about the game.

I'm sitting here at the PC with the link in a tab and on my Kindle Fire HDX while my son is playing Skyrim on the PS3. =)

I think this new-to-me level is great for me because it gives me a good reason to get back into the game. I have two Heroes, a Barbarian and a Paladin. I think the first is about level 64 and the other must be around 40. I can't seem to recall how far I got with the Paladin. I did log in today and play a little bit. Since it's been a while, I'm not sure what I was doing last, so I decided to do story mode again with my Paladin so I could collect the necessary ingredients for the staff.

Do you remember how long it took you guys to find the necessary ingredients to make the staff? I know they're rare, but I'm still looking for the first ingredient (the black mushroom).

Playing the game again is reminding me of my indecision. I often find it difficult to decide what to equip. If an item doesn't give me any bonus compared to what I have equipped then that makes my decision easier and I therefore sell the item. I am grateful, though, that I have about 1 million gold, so I've expanded my storage chest and decided to drop a bunch of stuff in it. Perhaps I should be saving items that I find for other character classes, but I end up selling them.

Excellent points, thanks! I do look at the various aspects of items to decide whether or not to equip, store, or sell. One thing I found yesterday gave experience for picking up gold. I thought that was an awesome ability, but I didn't equip it (I believe I stored it). I kept quite a few items in my inventory even though I didn't equip or sell them. I got tired of the inventory filling up, so I bought another tab and stored all that stuff.

Oddly enough, I've even begun to think that it would be cool if I could choose not to have a follower. At level 65, I don't feel like I need one. Maybe that's just the loner in me thinking or just selfishly wanting the EXP for myself. LOL

So much for "there is no cow level!" LOL

Interesting, thanks, Travis. I decided to equip that piece of equipment that grants EXP for picking up gold. Honestly, I'm not even sure how to to tell how much EXP I need to level up.

When my Crusader says, "how tastes your fear," I think of America today, especially for Republicans and those who watch Fox News, to which I think, "it must taste pretty sweet."

I just got to Whimsyshire!!!!! While I was looking for the first ingredient, I came upon a Rainbow Goblin. This gave me a portal to Whimsyshire! I believe my friend got there the same way, since she got there by accident. It was fun an cool, although it seemed to only consist of one floor.

And what do you know, my next trip into the Cathedral Level 1, I found a Black Mushroom. =)

That's disappointing, I was hoping for a boss. Still, some of those unicorns are pretty powerful. I haven't looked, but I imagine there are some cool drops there, too. I'm not sure if it's related, but I picked up another cool piece of equipment that "rains" gold when you get a "massacre." I'm still going to continue to hunt down the other drops I need to make the staff.

That's cool!

That's awesome, I noticed you were online today when I was. My Barbarian is level 66 now. Today, I got a notification that some of my items were damaged and needed repair. I totally forgot about that! At least the game let me know.

Wow, that is awesome, both the link and the level.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/GregoPeck-1971/hero/47779024

You're making me think I should increase the level of difficulty. I should really, I'm not having any trouble defeating monsters.

I increased the difficulty from Normal to Hard. I died two or three times, but I leveled up twice. I found another interesting item, a Puzzle ring which will "[s]ummon a treasure goblin who picks up normal-quality items for you. After picking up 12–16 items, he drops a rare item with a chance for a legendary." Now that I have raised the difficulty, I'm glad to have a follower. I've also put Health potions back into my inventory (I have about 400 of them, I think).

Yeah, I need to pay more attention to it and start dropping "normal-quality items" for it to pick up, instead of holding on to them to sell. You obviously know much more about the game than I do. I'm often surprised by the drops that I get because I'm not fully aware of what's available. =)

My Barbarian is now level 70 and I figured out how to tell how much EXP you have. There is a bar above your abilities that shows this.

I noticed you got the "Batting 500" achievement. I went AFK and when I got back, I noticed you were there. I've seen Jon on a bit lately. Even though I didn't post anything new to Cheerful Ghost, I am glad that I have revitalized the Diablo III conversation. I'm glad that I'm playing again, too. I'm sure you two have spent a lot more hours with the game than I have. Not only am I enjoying this revived conversation, but I'm also liking the fact that I'm still learning about the game.

I'm beginning to think it's about time to increase the level of difficult. I'm currently playing it on "hard" and I'm not really taking much damage now. I think I just reached Paradigm level 11. I also leveled up my Artisan and Jeweler because I had some recipes that required them to have at least level 12. I only did that so that I could remove those recipes from my storage chest to make room for more stuff.

I'm currently in the Dalghur Oasis trying to get the last ingredient available in Act II, Liquid Rainbow. I did recently find another Rainbow Goblin and made it to Whimsydale. During that trip, I learned that if you click on a "Happy Cloud," it will sometimes drop some gold.

LOL Where did I come up with "Paradigm?" Anyway, I think it's a pretty neat system.

So, when I said that I reached the level earlier, I think I really should have said that I made it to Whimsydale. I've been there multiple times now via the same way (Rainbow Goblin portal). So, perhaps I haven't been to Whimsyshire yet. I'm still waiting for the Chiltara to drop the Gibbering Gemstone, the last ingredient I need to create the Herding Staff. This used to be a 100% drop, but it was changed and is now more difficult to obtain. I've fought that creature multiple times and it still hasn't dropped.

I have increased the difficulty twice now, so I just started playing "Master" difficulty today. I'm still not really taking any damage, so it might be about time to increase the difficulty again.

I found a new ring that has an awesome ability of haunting nearby enemies. This is really helpful. I also now have a set equipped, my first and only. If you want to check out the details of these items see my hero profile (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/GregoPeck-1971/hero/47779024).

Another thing I wanted to note...I almost never use my abilities (keys 1-4). I imagine that a different class could get me using those more often. I pretty much use my main attack (left-click on mouse) and my attack that uses Fury (right-click on mouse). My profile says that right-click ability is Ancient Spear, but what I see is a chain that often brings my enemies closer to me. Often, when I use this ability, I think of Scorpion's attack in Mortal Kombat and think, "come here!" LOL I often hate when enemies get away from me and sometimes use this ability to pull them back closer to me.

Interesting! I've seen treasure goblins open those portals and I try to kill them before they jump back in, but I've never seen one stay open after a treasure goblin dies. I've only seen that occur with rainbow goblins, which is how I've made it to Whimsydale. Maybe when I see one open a portal again, I'll try to go through. 10 million gold from one place?! Wow! I think right now I have about 8-9 million. Thanks for sharing the link, now I have another place to try to get to. =)

Oh! We may have discussed this some time ago, but I wanted to ask you all, who your favorite follower is. I'm not sure I have one. I think I have tried them all. I've been using the Templar mostly because I think he's selected by default, but sometimes I think I get sick of him. Maybe I should change my follower from time to time to reduce the monotony of it.

Just after reading your info here, I saw one of the in-game notices while the game was loading that slain treasure goblins rarely open a portal to the Vault.

Since then, I've probably seen that message 5 times already. Oh! I finally got the Gibbering Gemstone!!!!

Thanks for joining me, Jon! I didn't realize my game was open, I thought it was "private." Still, I didn't mind the cool surprise of your visit. Next time I play, I'm sure I'll be playing a new character that can wield that Herding Staff.

I just defeated Malthael and OMG that was the hardest boss in the entire game on Torment 1!!!!! I died I don't know how many times and I used nearly all of my skills whenever they were ready. Leap didn't seem to do any good against him so I didn't use that, except for maybe once. Avalanche worked sometimes, but not always. War Cry and Wrath of the Berserker were definitely helpful! I think Ancient Spear was helpful a little bit. That battle did make me glad that I started using my skills. I don't know why I started using them, but the game got more fun once I did. Wow, just wow, that was seriously tough! That fight against Malthael makes all the other bosses look pathetic!! Really, I don't think any of them really ever gave me any problems even without using skills 1-4. Finished the game with my Barbarian yet again maybe the second or third time, but this time at level 70, Paragon 61.

I think I remember him being more of a challenge than any other boss no matter what difficulty the game is on.

I did reset some of my Paragon levels. I threw all the points I could into Critical Hit Chance, Strength, and I don't know what else. I had spent some of those points for Gold Chance when I had the item equipped that gave me experience for finding gold, but I later removed it for a better item, which meant I didn't need those bonus stat points anymore.

I'm glad the Herding Staff works just by having it in your inventory. I thought I had to create a Wizard to use it, but no. Apparently the staff isn't upgradable anymore after a certain patch. I kept trying and was dong what seemed to be the right thing to get it upgrade, but I read that a patch removed those upgrades.

That's cool, Travis, thanks for answering! Once I started using my skills, the Templar was helpful because he could get a group of nearby enemies closer to us and stunned, then I'd use Avalanche on the group.

I don't really know about "Seasons," so I haven't tried that out.