Issues with “skipped content”

Just to add more details (which will probably sound confusing now, but will make sense once you’ve played the game for awhile and cleared an entire difficulty), within any difficulty (normal-inferno), a higher level character can invite a lower level one to any act within any of these difficulties so long as the lower level one meets the difficulty requirement.  This can create some confusion for new players since it can make it look like you lost some progress (it gets more confusing at difficulty boundaries; normal-nightmare, nightmare-hell for example).

If you haven’t cleared a quest, and if you join a game of a higher level character who has further progress, you’ll bypass a lot of content.  This however does not mean that you actually completed those previous quests.  Which is why when you try to select a quest, you’ll only see the ones that you’ve actually cleared.  In order to fully unlock them, you’ll need to either play through those quests solo, in a private co-op game, or a public game.

Example, I can create a normal level 1 character, and use my level 60 on my other account to invite that just created character to Act IV – Prime Evil quest, kill Diablo with my level 60, and the level 1 character will get the achievement for Normal Diablo.  This does not mean that all previous bosses were now automatically defeated though (plus I know in the past, it caused issues with public profiles where a missing quest could result in your public profile being stalled progress wise until all  quests were actually completed).  All previous quests in all acts won’t be available to that level 1 though and it wouldn’t be able to move on to Nightmare difficulty until reaching level 25 (the level to enter Hell difficulty is 50).

So long as I don’t change quests, I’ll continue to have access to this quest but once I do change back to the only actual quest I have access to (Fallen Star on Act 1), I will temporarily lose access to the Act IV Prime Evil quest because there would be no following quest unlocked after it except nightmare difficulty which the character does not meet the requirements for).

So long as you get a checkpoint in the following quest, the preceding cleared quest will also still display.  Example, clearing the Butcher (Imprisoned Angel) and also getting the checkpoint in the Return to New Tristram quest  will keep both of these quests intact even if everything else preceding it was skipped.  If you don’t complete the Return to New Tristram quest though and change quests (to whatever previous ones are actually available) before getting the checkpoint in the last quest of Act 1, you’ll temporarily lose access to the Imprisoned Angel quest (thus making it look like you never completed it).  This is what I meant by how it can be confusing for new players once they’ve either jumped into a public game or were invited to a private game further on in the progression.  The important thing to remember is that checkpoints serve to save your progress so always try to get one before ending your gaming session.