Opening up one full page of stash isn't too bad, but you really don't need the rest untill you're 60. Buying quite good gear off the AH for lower levels is very cheap. Crafting a single item will generally cost you more than buying a good item off the auction house. And if you craft, you usually end up with 90% shitty items anyway. Saving gear for your other character isn't that bad of an idea, but realize that for almost every item you find (on low levels), there'll be a roughly equal or better item on the AH for 5-10k. If you spend more on an item (because it's a really good item), don't forget to re-sell it when you're replacing it, it's guaranteed to be an upgrade for someone else. That way even buying good upgrades ends up being very cheap in the long run (unless you die).
That said, playing hardcore is more about the journey than the destination, and if your way of doing things is more appealing to you than buying most of your items off the AH, then hell, do it your way. It may not be the fastest way to level, but that's certainly not all that matters
The last 5 posts are so funny. misiceman is correct, nekteIMP is... mostly right, but very misleading. The crit chance and crit damage is absolutely irrelevant for this whole scenario.
Weapon 1) 100(damage per hit)*10(one hit per sec for ten secs) +50 for a single crit = 1050
Weapon2) 2*60(two hits for 60 per second)*10(over ten seconds) + 60 for two crits = 1260
The crits will contribute 20% more damage in scenario 2 because... you have 20% more dps. It would contribute 20% more whether you had 0 crit chance, or 50% crit chance with 312% crit damage.
This is because he has 20% higher dps before considering crit chances, which is because of +dmg on a different item, which nekteIMP himself said in his first post
Weapon speed, affects your crits per second and any +damage per hit items you might be wearing, this even if the weapon itself has the same dps, more chances to use gear means more use of other eq affix/skill bonuses
Nothing in this quote is actually wrong. You will get more crits per second with a faster weapon, but the relative damage crits contribute will be no higher or lower if you're using a slow weapon over a small one. The actual stat that is better with faster attack speed is a static increas in damage (or damage ranged, like +105-256 damage on your offhand)
So, to make a long story short: The faster your weapon is, the more it benefits from having other sources of +X-Y damage. Skills or passives may also be better or worse with varying weapon speeds. Other stats such as crit chance, critdmg, int/str/dex do NOT favor faster or slower attack speeds (in a stand--still-and-nuke sitation).
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That said, playing hardcore is more about the journey than the destination, and if your way of doing things is more appealing to you than buying most of your items off the AH, then hell, do it your way. It may not be the fastest way to level, but that's certainly not all that matters
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The crits will contribute 20% more damage in scenario 2 because... you have 20% more dps. It would contribute 20% more whether you had 0 crit chance, or 50% crit chance with 312% crit damage.
This is because he has 20% higher dps before considering crit chances, which is because of +dmg on a different item, which nekteIMP himself said in his first post
Nothing in this quote is actually wrong. You will get more crits per second with a faster weapon, but the relative damage crits contribute will be no higher or lower if you're using a slow weapon over a small one. The actual stat that is better with faster attack speed is a static increas in damage (or damage ranged, like +105-256 damage on your offhand)
So, to make a long story short: The faster your weapon is, the more it benefits from having other sources of +X-Y damage. Skills or passives may also be better or worse with varying weapon speeds. Other stats such as crit chance, critdmg, int/str/dex do NOT favor faster or slower attack speeds (in a stand--still-and-nuke sitation).