One of the big things we can take from our experience in Azeroth is that there are certain points in the game where the difficultly suddenly steps it up or new gear is available to your character. Back in 2005 when leveling was a big deal, Hunters and Warriors would suddenly be able to wear a new type of gear at level 40. Hunters would head to the auction house and try to find cheap mail gear to upgrade their leather while warriors would do the same going from mail to plate. Plate was a pretty big deal back then, not only did it have a distinct look but it had a lot more armor and the level 40 stats were nothing to laugh about. So how does this help us in Diablo 3?

There are a few potential bottlenecks in D3. The most obvious is Inferno difficulty. The less obvious is the step between Normal and Nightmare which is going to be right around level 33 according to my best guess based on gear in the Battle.net Game Guide. The Normal to Nightmare step will include the new demand for Shimmering Essence and gear that is crafted using it. The biggest stepping stone is going to be once a character reaches level 60. This is going to be the point when a player can equip just about any gear as long as they have either the real-money or the gold.

Depending on how difficult Hell difficulty is, players may pass the opportunity to deck their character out until they reach Inferno difficulty. At this point they will probably hit a physical wall where they aren’t able to take down an early boss like the Skeleton King without better gear. They will head to the auction house and start looking for affordable level 60 gear.

What quality of gear will they be looking for though? Why not shoot for the best of the best and get whatever they can afford? We can look at gear by two different criteria, it’s level requirement and then by its crafting materials.

Nightmare difficulty’s Shimmering Essence is used to craft gear that requires level 33 and above. Hell difficulty’s Wishful Essence is used to craft gear that requires level 51. Inferno’s Exquisite Essence is used to craft gear that requires level 60. Being able to determine the different tiers of gear is going to be important. Crafting the cheapest Inferno / Exquisite Essence gear, sorting through the random results, and selling the good stuff is going to be a potential gold making strategy since most players just entering Inferno won’t have access to those crafting materials.

Inferno crafting materials are also going to be a strong market early in the game as players break the barrier from the 3rd hardest difficulty to the 4th. Realizing these milestones and understanding the tiers of gear, crafting materials and challenges ahead are going to help us optimize the amount of gold we an make come release.

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.