Greetings duders. I would like to solicit your advice if I may.

My wife and I are interested in playing chapter V of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls together. She has a level 32 monk that has completed chapters I - IV on normal difficulty. I have a level 26 crusader that has completed chapter I, and part of chapter II on expert difficulty. My wife likes to plow through enemies and enjoys feeling successful, whereas I enjoy a bit of a challenge and don't mind failing several times before accomplishing a task.

The question is, should I level my crusader to ~32 on expert difficulty and stop so that my crusader will be a comparable level to my wife's monk, or should I go ahead and complete chapters I - IV on normal so that I don't level past my wife's character?

Alternatively, I could complete chapters I - IV on normal difficulty, thus gaining less experience, but I find normal lacking in terms of challenge and I am afraid I will lose interest.

Your thoughts are much appreciated.

You could just have her invite you straight to act V if you'd like, you don't have to play through act IV to play V if somebody else invites you. And if you play on a lower difficulty in her game, then it might be fun for her and little more challenging for you because you're lower level.

I don't have RoS, but my understanding is that you have to beat the game at least once to unlock Chapter V, so you'll have to normal your way through.

Edit: Oh wait, you can be invited. Never mind.

I think I'd second canuck's suggestion and just go in to her game as you are. You'll be under-leveled for a while, but you should catch up, and in the mean-time it will be somewhat more challenging for you. You can always go back and play through the other acts some other time if you want to fill in the gaps.

Perhaps being a slightly lower level on normal would present a challenge. I had not thought of this. Thank you for the suggestion.

I wouldn't suggest doing anything above hard until you're level 70. Expert and Master aren't really challenging, they just take longer. Diablo's all about grinding anyway so just finish the game on normal or hard so all the areas are open for you to go back to on a harder difficulty.

Hard is the most efficient until you can farm Torment I easily, then Torment I or II is likely the most efficient unless you're playing the most overpowered builds with ridiculous gear/high paragon. Expert can be fun though, especially at lower levels.

There may be some truth to this. I am aware of the increased XP gain on the harder difficulties, but I am not noticing a significant difference in gameplay between hard and expert.

One thing to keep in mind is the guaranteed legendary drop from the final Act V boss during each story playthrough. This may not be an issue for you if you don't plan on taking a character to 70 and/or don't mind playing through the story mode again, but every legendary drop counts. You can always power through the game with her and then restart story mode, up the difficulty to where it feels good for you, and then do it again.

I see the story mode in D3 more as the training ground for Adventure mode and torment-level rifts.

Anyway, I think the Giant Bomb clan(s) are all full, or mostly full, but you can always join the GB Community until a new clan starts or some slots open up. Good luck dude.

I appreciate all of the advice. Thank you very much.