Well... upgrading your items is actually kinda important because later on you fight some pretty mean (and when I say mean, I mean mean) bosses. So that coulda been it. I remember this huge goblin guy and he didn't pose too much of a problem to me and my two buddies... we had two of us whacking away and one healing over and over and we beat him pretty easily. Just have designated jobs for each person playing, and you should be fine.