Excited for the launch of Diablo III’s expansion, Reaper of Souls? The staff at Full Cleared has spent the last several weeks playing through the closed beta and have created a comprehensive guide to help other players get ready for the expansion. Reaper of Souls will bring numerous changes to Diablo III, including some of which went live yesterday in Patch 2.0.1: Paragon 2.0, Loot 2.0, Enchanting, Transmogrification, Adventure Mode, Bounties, Nephalem Rifts, the Crusader class and a rise in the level cap to 70. So what should you do with your current gear and gems? Should you take advantage of the auction house before it shuts down in preparation for the expansion? Read on to find out our recommendations on how to prepare for Reaper of Souls.
Since Blizzard surprised everyone by releasing Patch 2.0.1 yesterday, we won’t go in depth with all the features and additions the patch brought. Instead, we’ll focus on what you should do in preparation for Reaper of Souls and how you can make the best of your playing time until March 25, 2014. To start, you’ll want to spend some time in Patch 2.0.1 farming out some of the new loot from the smart drop system. Unless your character is entirely geared out with top-end Legendaries, it’ll still be worth your while to try and obtain some of the new Legendaries implemented with Loot 2.0, despite the fact that they’re only level 60. For some of those items, the game-changing stat will be advantageous to have heading into the expansion until you get a level 70 replacement.
The most important thing to be aware of as you prepare for Reaper of Souls is that Marquise gems will be the lowest level gem dropping once you get into level 70 farming mode. Which means you should save your gold and refrain from upgrading your gems while dumping any excess gems on the auction house while you still can. We’d go so far as to recommend selling any gems that aren’t Marquise, even if you’re heading into the expansion with Flawless Squares in your gear.
Reason being, gold will become a very important component to having an enjoyable Reaper of Souls experience, especially if you’re a min-maxer and want the most out of every bit of gear. Enchanting a piece of gear gets more expensive each time you attempt to re-roll the stat, which means gold will be disappearing from your account quicker than you probably anticipate. Which also means we’d recommend selling some of your level 60 gear on the auction house as well and replacing it with the new bind on account Legendary items from Patch 2.0.1.
Now not all gear should be sold and there are certain items you’ll want to hold onto. Trifecta gloves with a strong main stat and/or vit roll as well as trifecta jewelry will take some time to replace, even with level 70 items. Given the way loot rolls in Reaper of Souls, it’ll take some time to find new gloves and jewelry that will actually be a Damage and Toughness increase for your character. Of course, you’ll be building around the new items that you get, and you might not necessarily need trifectas to build your character, but you’ll want to be optimally farming as quickly as possible.
Certain legendaries such as well-rolled Mempo of Twilights and Witching Hours should also be kept. Despite the fact that you won’t be able to enchant those Legendaries, they’re worth keeping because again, replacements might not come as quickly as you hope. Also keep in mind that certain items won’t roll the same percentage range as previous items (i.e. 6% IAS instead of 9% IAS) so top-tier Legendaries should still have a home on your character until you find a well-rolled level 70 replacement.
As for crafting mats, the lower level mats currently live in Patch 2.0.1 will essentially become meaningless once Reaper of Souls goes live. You’ll be stocking up on the new level 70 crafting materials and using those for all your end-game gear and crafting needs.
Lastly, you’ll want to start getting those Paragon levels before you head into Reaper of Souls. The more Paragon points you have to spend in the new Paragon 2.0 system, the better. Each class will be getting a new skill and one new passive slot for the expansion, and having those extra points will help you take advantage of those new skills by helping reduce their cooldown and/or costs.
Those looking for a clan and/or community to join, the staff at Full Cleared will be more than happy to assist you in your daily farming needs. We’ll also be hosting live streams where our viewers can join in on our loot runs and we’ll be giving away Legendaries for those that need them. The Full Cleared community is open to the public, so feel free to join and get in on some fun with us.
