Honestly guys, let me tell you how my first few hours in Diablo 4 went down. Complete disaster, almost rage quit. I started off fresh, feeling kinda cocky jumping into the character creator, picked a Barbarian ’cause swinging big axes sounded awesome. Big mistake. Level 1 feels like you got nerfed straight out the womb.
The Reality Check Hits Hard
Got dropped into that snowy intro area. First quest? Easy peasy, right? Wrong. Those basic skeleton dudes barely tickled the quest giver dude, but they swarmed me like angry hornets. My Barb felt like he was swinging a wet noodle instead of an axe. Died. Twice. Before hitting level 2. Felt like a total noob, embarrassingly looked over my shoulder to make sure nobody saw.
Started looting everything that wasn’t nailed down. Found a slightly less crappy pair of boots? Equipped ’em instantly. Didn’t even look at the stats, just saw the armor number tick up a tiny bit. Felt like a win at the time. Gold? Blew it all at the first vendor I found on some weak blue weapon. Thought I’d become unstoppable. Spoiler: I didn’t.
Actually Figured Out Some Stuff (Barely)
Here’s where I maybe started not completely sucking:
- Died Again? Who Cares. Seriously, stopped worrying about dying. It’s gonna happen. Treated it like cheap tuition. Dropped some gold? Whatever. The checkpoint wasn’t far back. Running back was faster than staring at the screen frustrated.
- Skills? Just Dump the Points. Early game skill points are throwaway. Don’t stress. I threw my first few points into anything that sounded like more damage or making me harder to kill. Basic attack buff? Yes please. Something to heal a smidge when I smack stuff? Gimme. Reset costs gold later, sure, but early on? Just take anything to stop hitting like a wet noodle. Made leveling past 5 feel possible.
- Blue Stuff? Worth It, Maybe. Stopped selling every single magic item immediately. Found a blue ring that gave me like +5% more damage to skills. Actually equipped it! Started paying attention to simple stuff like “+Strength” or “+Damage to Close Enemies” for my Barb. Huge difference compared to ignoring everything.
Realizing I Was Still Doing It Wrong
Got to around level 15 thinking I was hot stuff. Then I stumbled into some event with these exploding guys. Boom. Dead. Immediately. Got stomped by an Elite mob I thought I could handle. The gear mismatch became painfully obvious. Finally forced myself to do the boring thing: actually comparing what dropped to what I had equipped.
Found a weapon with a way higher damage range? Swapped it, no brainer. Found armor pieces stacking the same defensive stat? Started prioritizing that instead of just armor number. Suddenly took way less damage. Felt stupid for not doing it sooner. Also finally, FINALLY, started salvaging junk gear instead of selling it all. Needed those mats for upgrades way more than the trickle of gold.
Where I Ended Up
Took me waaaay longer than it should have to scrape past level 20. I was stubborn and kinda dumb. But the core of it?
- Don’t fear dying early. It’s free (mostly). Run back.
- Dump skill points anywhere immediately useful. Worry about a “build” later.
- Even small gear upgrades matter LOADS early. Equip better stuff immediately, even basic blues.
- Compare items! Look at the core damage/armor first, then check for useful stats for your class.
- Salvage junk. Upgrade key pieces ASAP.
It’s not magic, just basic stuff I was too impatient to do consistently. The early slog gets way smoother when you actually do the bare minimum! No secret hack, just finally deciding to play slightly less stupid.