I don’t have data that shows how many soon to be Diablo 3 players used to be World of Warcraft junkies, but I bet there are a lot. World of Warcraft could easily be considered the MMORPG of the decade, second only to the original EverQuest which was popular before many of the present WoW players even had a computer. There are going to be a lot of players jumping into Diablo without any idea what they are getting into. Chances are that they will be coming straight from the Mists of Pandaria beta or straight out of Azeroth out from the comfort of their uber level 85. Here are just some of the common misconceptions or surprises they are going to run into when they load up at the end of May.

No Class Specialization

I’ve had new players ask me about how they go about picking a talent build or specializing their class in Diablo 3. In Mists of Pandaria Blizzard significantly changed the way specialization works. As far as being a permanent way to customize your class it’s definitely being phased out in Blizzard’s latest games. There are definitely not three choices in Diablo 3, instead there are thousands of skill builds available.

Crafting and Professions

Where do I learn Blacksmithing? That might a question we hear from new players quite often in Diablo 3. Of course there are no professions in D3, instead we’re left with 2 artisans that we will only need to level once each per account. Crafting is entirely different, players will need to craft dozens of a single item before they get what they want or get what they wanted to sell.

No Addons

There are no third-party addons in Diablo 3. This means that everyone using the auction houses will be on a level playing field. There are no damage meters to compare your character’s damage output. There will be no boss helper addons to tell you when to get out of the fire (there will be fire). There will also be no user interface mods or storage mods to make your life easier or just fun to customize. The lack of addons is going to hurt the most in the auction house, where a new 10 auction limit is being enforced in the beta, where there will be millions of items posted at any given time, where gold is exchangeable for real money and where the value of some items could be thousands of dollars.

Boss Farming

Players who haven’t been following Diablo 3′s development might not realize that farming bosses isn’t going to be the most effective way to make gold or get gear. Blizzard’s aim is to offer incentive to players who explore remote areas of the game, searching for packs of rare mobs or an elite wandering around. However, I’ve already find several ways to farm in Diablo, at least in the beta, that should be effective in the retail version as well.

Bind on Never

In World of Warcraft players are used to Bind on Equip, Bind on Pickup and Bind on Account. In Diablo 3 we’ll have the joy of Bind on Never. This means that gear will probably never go to waste unless it’s thrown into an extra inventory slot and neglected or left on an inactive character. This is true for legendary gear all the way down to the cheapest junk gear we’ll use leveling. That means that leveling gear is going to be virtually free on the auction house and in trade chat. This also means that the value of gear is going to drop in the long run. Even gems can be reused indefinitely. Once you reach level 60 you will be able to buy and equip everything that makes a good character (except skill). All level 60 characters will be created equal, just with different gear and skills.

Some other small things include a lack of built in guild organization, a small action bar of abilities, less equipment slots, no races and no central hubs to socialize or show off your gear.

Important: Many of the strategies and tips I share here were originally inspired by the people at the Diablo 3 Gold Secrets Forum. If you're serious about making the big bucks in Diablo 3, or just being the best players, you need to signup ASAP.