I will include one tip: Try your darndest to hero, or at least rank to +40 with a character that would make a decent explorer. Explore your ass off and learn as much as you can. I found that I could usually learn things with my high level chars (easy ways to get gold,places you can find gear/magical items that are useful) that were useful and even helped with low level chars in the future.
On that note, this game is meant to be a challenge. A big challenge. Often times, big challenges are frustrating to get past. But the feeling you get if you push through the frustration and succeed is something worth it, in my opinion.
Obaznuk