If you have managed to finish the original 4 acts already with a character then you will be able to get to act 5 immediately for that character. Doesn't matter if you have beaten Normal difficulty only in Diablo 3 Vanilla, you will be able to do higher difficulties of the new act as well (Torment as well if you have a lvl 60 character on live). Difficulties are no longer restricted to a particular level since all monsters scale with your level and you can switch difficulty at any time.
Last edited by Frozen Death Knight; 2014-02-10 at 04:54 PM.