This will be my first character, no funding whatsoever, and I'm going to make my character a Summoner, with some support ability in the form of stacking curses, auras, and totems alongside my summons.

I was wondering if anyone can recommend me advice as far as a starting class, stats, and skills go, and what sort of equipment/gems should I keep an eye out for?

Will this idea be viable in solo and group PvM for Hardcore?

if you are making a summoner stick to Solo play

it is def viable for Hardcore just gotta play defensive/support while your summons do the offensive work.

you will run through stuff pretty easy only thing that gave me a problem was D-sync... was a bitch but shit happens...

What are some good ways to make money on my first unfunded character, especially at the low levels?

- Stash any and all currency items (orbs, gemcutter prisms, cartographer's chisels etc. All "currency" items can be seen here, along with their estimate values http://exilestats.com/ex/)
- Look out for ANY green-blue-red linked items, of any rarity (even if their stats are trash) as these sell for Chromatic Orbs at any vendor (list of special vendor "recipes" here http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Vendor_Recipes)
- Don't be ashamed of mass hoarding rares/gems etc until a point at which you understand values better.

Hope this helps

This post was edited by gbr_oNi on May 17 2013 11:37am

What about gold? What's the fg to gold ratio on D2jsp?

there is no gold

Hmm, could've sworn there was.

But anyway, are there any guides for a Summoner build that uses Arc?

on the main poe website, just go under witch forums and it should be on the first page

You were right about the gold thing. The game I was thinking of was Mythos. Why is that?

How frustrating will Hardcore mode be if I have consistent lag due to my internet?