agree, i just created a barb last night and buy cheap eq off other player for faster leveling, spend just a little gold (<1000 total) to get a good enough weapon and a pair of shoes that allows me to run slightly faster.
Spec from equipment is based on your level, if you are level 1, whatever pops will be shit, no chance for a piece of equipment that can be consider, when your level is very high, then only got chance to pop some nice EQ, even shitty eq for high level pop still much better than the best 1 pop from a low level char. So just spend a little money direct buyout eq that suit your current level, just get cheap eq, as leveling is easy for low level, only consider spending big amount if level is high as difficulty to level goes up.