Do you guys really think it’s faster to start with a Necro then claim your bags and start a DH? Just hate to waste time since I’m a dad with two kids and don’t have a lot of time. I know bout saving the challenge rift for the altar.
Its a really tough call!
I think if you need an objective answer, then yes starting necro first is better.
But I think DH is a close second place in terms of the speed you can get things running. Something worth noting is GOD set gives dmg multiplier with 2 piece which is quite nice.
I, myself, also consider my experience with DH vs necro.
I still dont know what im going!! Filthy has some guides up though! Get studying 
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Necro first is fastest. For me, this season is necro to lvl 18 then DH.
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just use corpse explosion to get to lvl 18 then kill bounty bosses for diamond to upgrade for alter “no level requirement” then make a weapon for your main and level from 1-70.
it’s not the fastest method but it’s the “fastest” method everyone talks about and follows.
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Think I’ll go crazy horse. Condemn is fun.
I think Necromancer is unnecessary, because you can easily dive into Darkening of Tristram event to farm some gems for unlocking no level requirement node of Altar.
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The Americas didn’t start their season until after this event expired.
That being said:
I agree with this. I personally have never subscribed to the “rush with class X, unlock node, start over with MAIN class Y” because I’m not racing. I’m not one of the world-first cheevo hunters. I’m not competing on the cheaterboards leaderboards. I’m just a dude who likes seasons and I feel like that’s basically 99 people out of 100 when it comes to this game.
We don’t need “uber leet fastorz starting tips.” We derive precious little benefit from them. It’s the equivalent of trying to follow a pro athlete’s training regimen; unless you’re literally in the NFL already and of similar biological potential to Tom Brady innately, you really don’t need to follow “Tom Brady’s workout” to get in shape. And in fact, you probably shouldn’t try. PERSONAL health should be the goal, not an idealist facsimile of a physical specimen.
Don’t worry about what’s faster then. Literally, you’re trying to “preempt” the diaper change by hovering your toddler over the toilet. It sounds smart on paper but it doesn’t save you any time at all in practice. (Not that I’d know this from personal experience or anything… 
)
I’d argue the exact opposite. I’ve done it both ways and the reality is you’re NEVER going to get to the Altar node that requires CR in one weekend. I may not have kids of my own, but I work full time. I’ve only managed to do that ONCE, and it was when I was on sick leave from Covid. If you have kids AND work full time? You’ll NEVER be in a situation where you reach the altar and go “man, I should’ve saved the CR…”
You’ll have plenty of time to get a second cache. I know, CR’s aren’t fun for most people, I don’t like them either. But… again, see above. You’re taking a “leet streamer” tip and applying it as gospel when it doesn’t apply to you. You’re not no-lifing the game, so don’t expect to benefit from tricks that only benefit those who do.
Use the CR cache, get a jumpstart.
Again, it CAN be. Basic idea is you start on normal mode, scrap your followers’ white weapons to unlock first Node, then you get Corpse Explosion very early on and on lower difficulties/levels it just deletes entire screens. This racks up massive kill streaks and makes it very easy to hit level 18. At that point you do a boss bounty, get some diamonds, and upgrade them to flawless (or convert them via cube if you’re unlucky) for the “no item level reqs” Node. THEN, you get a set of level 70 yellows (especially a weapon) and you crank up to T6 and just delete the levels between 18 and 70 in like 10 minutes.
Problem, though: you’re a dad. With TWO kids. And you probably also work full time.
YOU, specifically, are NOT the target audience for these fast-track style tips. I’d argue you’re better served playing what you enjoy.
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I agree with most of your points, though I think there’s some nuance missing.
One of the key things about the leveling guides is that people need to remember Diablo today isn’t the same as even Diablo 10 years ago. You look at the early seasons, and people were taking 6+ hours to level to 70. Back then, being able to shave off 25% of your time to 70 would be huge. Today, it’s about half of that time for most people to hit 70, so it’s not nearly as important. (Though, even in the guides, pay little heed to time estimates. They’re almost always wildly off.)
This is an area I disagree with. But this comes down to a point you made later on, on who are the guides serving.
Now, it’s true that some tips often have nuance, that unless you understand what the tips are, they can often be slower with misunderstanding. And I’ve been in that situation myself. Back when I was trying to learn how to level faster, there were definitely fights that happened within the groups as members misunderstood perfectly valid tips and ended up upset that they took 7 hours to level when they’d normally take 6 hours to level.
And yes, this comes back to your point about self-realization about who you really are. But that’s a personal question and doesn’t mean some people don’t want to learn. If you’re looking at a guide to begin with, chances are you’re not in the 99% of players. The people who use guides often are the people who want to learn. It’s the people who just join others, expecting to be carried without putting in the work, where things go wrong. Anyone can benefit from guides, but you need to put in the work. It’s a question of, are you willing to put in the work?
Most leveling guides are just horrible, especially the major sites. The major problem that exists is, I don’t even think they know who they serve.
They’re filled with a mishmash of beginner level to speed running tips, which benefit very few. If you’re a beginner, the speed run tips will only hamper you. If you’re a speed runner, there’s tons of bad information and terrible advice in the guides that will slow you down. Though, this comes back to self-realization, in that you as a player really need to have an idea of who you are as a player, and what you want out of the game.
And this comes down to HungryJ’s comment.
There’s a difference in which is the fastest, and what you should be doing.
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Fair enough.
I think if we could have a TL;DR type of summary for this conversation, that one sentence of yours would be perfect. 
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I held off doing this however I can testify that it does save time, about 10mins for me.