My Diablo 3 leveling strategy

With the release of Diablo 3 almost a week away (can you feel it in your blood?), a very important thought comes to mind: how are you going to tackle the game? I'm interested more in the leveling aspect here. One thing's certain: with the RMAH no longer available at launch, we all have one less thing to worry about during the first week or so.

For my part I think I have my leveling strategy nailed down pretty solid. Here's what I intend.

• Create a Demon Hunter named Prometheus
• Create the other 4 classes, as well as 5 other mules for extra storage
• Join random groups starting at level 1
• Beat the Skeleton King
• From there on, until the end of Normal difficulty play on my own
• Once I finish Normal, group up and tackle the rest of the content in Nightmare, Hell and hopefully Inferno

What's the rationale behind this strategy? Well, thanks to being part of the beta, I now know in intimate detail all the content up to the Skeleton King. I want to get past that content as fast as possible and the best way to do that is in a group.

After the Skeleton King I will be stepping into unknown territory. That's where the fun begins. None of us knows what to expect for the rest of the game. Sure, we have a small inkling of some of the areas but we don't know for certain what awaits. I think that's awesome. I can't wait to discover all that on my own. And the keywords here are "on my own". I want to take my time, explore every little nook and cranny of every area, and listen carefully to the spoken dialogue. In short, I want to savor the story and the lore. Normal difficulty won't be too hard. As a veteran Diablo player I expect to finish it without incurring a single death, provided I'm not too reckless. For this reason, I don't need a group. The pleasure of discovery will be mine alone.

Once I am done with Normal, the hard grind to level 60 begins. From there on I will play in random groups as much as possible. Leveling and progression are faster and loot is better. At this point I will have already experienced the full story once so there will be no need to waste time gawking at new things.

That's it, my leveling strategy is simple and efficient. Had the RMAH been in the game, I would have been tempted to blaze through the game as fast as possible, to take advantage of those first days of auction house madness. As it is, I'm grateful that I won't feel pressured into doing that.

So what do y'all think? Is this a good plan or what? What about you?