Rares and Champions...

[Roland]

Anyway, yes, getting lvl 60 will help for sure if all I have heard about drop rates increasing is true. This really makes the game seem so backwards from prior games though, where you generally had the best gear or close to it once you were max level, and you did farming here and there to make small upgrades. Here, it seems the REAL game doesnt even start until after you are 60.

That's it in a nutshell. Also, the Nephalem Valor stacks are awesome. You find so many more blues, and a handful of rares. Of course, that doesn't mean any of them will be any good for you, but with enough time you're bound to find something. Also, the gold piles get massive. 500+ is not uncommon at all, and I've seen as high as over 700. I think you could easily make over 100k an hour just pushing through late Act III, or even Act IV, between gold and vendoring poor blues / rares.

Blizz may want us to use the AH, but I cannot understand their logic in this.

Real Money Auction House.

I don't mind there being an AH, but I would much rather use it as a way of upgrading on an occasional basis for a slot that I am having poor luck in finding or crafting. But to have to rely on it almost entirely as we do, is a completely different thing altogether.

Depending on your definition of "occasional," that fits me pretty well. Of course, as I progress in the acts I find more gold, and thus am able to afford more upgrades, which allows me to keep a reasonable pace. I'd say buy the best weapon you can, with the highest DPS possible, and try playing from there. You'll see a world of difference. I often die to champ packs, but it's rare that I die more than once - unless they're just a ridiculous combo, and/or I get caught in a poor location (like when I got stair-trapped upon entering a side dungeon by Immune Minion / something / Something Blood Clans in Act III).

IDK, maybe I am just trapped too much in nostalgia, but item farming is partially what really made the first two games so loved. Now, it just seems like that is gone once you beat normal.

Get to 60. Get those Nephalem stacks. Item farming will come back with a vengeance. Seriously. It's a world of difference. I have 0% MF gear on, and I found over half a dozen rares in about a half hour, just going through the two Towers in Act III down to Azmodan (1 mini boss, 1 Act End boss). Almost all the gear was junk, of course, but I can easily see farming act bosses with full stacks and getting something good within a few days.

And besides, some of the combination of traits in these packs are UNBEATABLE, regardless of what gear you have, in particular Vortex with jailer or waller, molten or plague. I just had one mob that would just cast vortex, then use molten, and i'm dead in 1 or 2 hits. Had to leave the game, as any thought of being able to kill them was futile. This is too much of an unfair advantage against the player, because basically guarantees death without any hope of being able to kill them. Some traits shouldnt be able to spawn together, and there are at least a few that shouldnt be in the game at all. If I want to play a game that is similar to doing chores, I will go play a Nintendo game from the 80's, but this sorta stuff has NO place in an RPG.

There are some pretty nasty combinations, but short of a stair trap that leaves me no room to maneuver I haven't found anything "unbeatable" except when I was under-equipped. Then again, that's the point of your discussion, so yes - without proper gear things can be virtually unbeatable. One could probably same the same of D2, except the difficulty curve in D3 is steeper. Yes, it sucks dying to champs / elites, and yes Vortex / Jailer / Waller are pretty insanely bad (Immune Minions is another one). None of them are unbeatable, so long as you have the right gear, and the ability to move around.