Diablo 3, starting a Barbarian (part 1)

This is a series of notes about Diablo3, written from the perspective of "I never played this game before but I think I'll try it out."  This isn't a deep statistical analysis.

So... you're new to the game and you've picked a Barbarian because it's one of the easier classes to play. There's some specialty gear that drops for each class (Barbarians get a lot of belts -- don't ask me why) and this particular class gets extra bonuses just for standing around and wearing armor.  Sounds good right?

A note on character designs -- the male Witch Doctor appears to have a bad case of Parkinson's disease and although I love the idea of having Black characters in the game, the constant twitching is a bit much.  Nor do I like the prancy-girly female Demon Hunter in her high heels with twin crossbows is a real visual turn-off. 

When you log in, you begin Act 1 -- to find the "fallen star" and kill a lot of monsters.  You have two attacks (right and left mouse buttons -- the right mouse button costs more energy than the left mouse button attack) and two large globes at the bottom of your screen.  The red one is your health.  If it goes away, so do you.  The right globe is your energy (rage) and you need certain amounts of it to do certain attacks that cause more damage.  As you level, you will get options (the sword icon at the bottom (next to the person icon (your inventory)) will blink and you'll be able to choose from a number of confusing looking options.

Never fear, grasshopper.  You'll get it sorted out after a bit.  Time to go adventuring.  Run down the hill and kill whatever gets in your way.  At the bottom of the hill is Captain Rumsford.  You'll talk with him and the fun will begin.

Once you've got all the zombies sorted out (and dead), the gate opens and you can enter New Tristam.  Quest givers have glowing exclamation marks, people who want to yak at you have blue-white asterisks, and if you get lost, the icon (bottom of your screen) that looks like a wine cup has your journal with tabs about what you just read (or should have) from manuscripts you picked up and what quest you're on. 

Notable NPC's: