So having my first run through be with 2 buddies and meaning progress is slow whilst we wait for everyone to be online at the same time, decided to start up a hardcore run with another friend in order to see how we could do.

I rolled a wizard he picked a barbarian and we made decent progress through the game - almost catching up with our main three man run through.

However then we found it, a dungeon in act 2 we had not encountered before. There was an npc outside warning of a time limited treasure run inside, that if we didnt get out in time then we would die. It was a silly thing to even attempt on a hardcore run through, but we were foolish and brash and laughed in the face of danger.

Upon entering the dungeon a timer starting at 2 and a half minutes started, we panicked and i bolted into the depths shouting for my friend to keep up so we could get the treasure and teleport out. I was aoe stunning and freezing everyone i could, frost skinning to mitigate damage and pushing deeper and deeper. we ran past champion mob after champion mob, all falling in line behind us as we fought against the timer, by now sitting at one minute.

Then tragedy stuck in the form of wallers. Fucking. wallers. we came to a dead end and frantically tried to get back out of it before the ocean of enemies hounding us caught up.

A swarm of wallers threw up their barriers and split us apart - i couldn't break out of the corner i was in and got frozen in place whilst a swarm flew in with me and walled up. I was dead in seconds, my barbarian companion put up a brave fight with his proc coming at a good time for him! however he couldnt make it out and eventually perished. Teamspeak was silent for a while whilst we took in the fact our entire afternoons worth of work had gone up in smoke. then we laughed.

It was an amazing experience, every encounter being more meticulous and strategic than beforehand and the underlying tension made everything more satisfying! So come on, share your fallen hero screens and how your toons met their untimely ends!

Now if you'll excuse me, i have a hardcore demon hunter to throw into the fray!

No one else attempted hardcore yet? nobody had their pixelated hours wiped clean?!

It happened today. At least it put me off hardcore mode. Not so in to starting from the beginning again.

Dude, that story was intense. Just reading it made me excited as hell! You should start a blog about your hardcore adventures with your demon hunter or something.

@AlisterCat: looks like you made it about as far as i did! seen a fair majority of dead hardcore players bite it round act 2, i get the feeling act 3 wouldnt actually be as bad! less suicide bombers!

You not even fancy diving back into it on hardcore once you hit 60?

@Blomakrans: haha, i get the feeling that most hardcore stories at this point will end up being very similar whilst people underestimate mobs and figure out survivability.

The demon hunter is pretty fun so far as far as staying alive goes, plenty of evasion ability and stunlocks :D

That was a great little read, thanks. I'm trying to convince my group of 4 to all start hardcore characters when we all start playing together, but I really don't know if they're the sort of guys to go for that kind of thing. If only there were hardcore specific loot or quests...

I'm sorry that I don't have an experience to share myself, as I haven't even started playing D3 yet. That was very interesting to read though and reminds me of some similar experiences with D2, fuck hardcore was fun!

I will definitely play some HC on D3 when I get into it though, I just have to wait a few months until I get home before I can start.

What can I say about this. Well, I was an idiot and ran after a Treasure Goblin. Yup. 9 hours down the drain due to loot lust. Kind of just sighed and restarted immedaitely. Back up to 23 now on another HC Barbarian. Makes boss fights a lot more intense.

Are you actually rewarded with better loot for going hardcore? Doesn't seem to get you more money at least.

@eloj said:

Are you actually rewarded with better loot for going hardcore? Doesn't seem to get you more money at least.

If it's anything like Diablo II, nope. You just get killed for good, but nothing else changes in Hardcore mode.

I lost my lvl 24 demon hunter on Belials final form. Before I even noticed that I was taking any damage I was dead from the green shit on the ground. I have two hardcore characters back in Act 2 now, but I should probably try that encounter in normal mode first..

@Zero_: that would definitely add some kind of incentive for people to try it!

-@Yadilie: dude thats horrible, kiting treasure goblins never occured to me to be a hazard, my guard is now up!

@L1GHTN1N: Nicely done mate!! keep on going in nightmare and let us know how you get on

@BRich: That's been the MO for my group, trying to make sure we clear everything in normal first to have a vague idea what were walking into, protip : the hammer champions in hell are not to be messed with, not looking forward to those on HC

That was a fun read, indeed. I haven't yet done a HC character, been playing my monk (got to Act IV last night). At some point I will play an HC character, but I am not ready yet. Keep the stories and link to the characters coming, they're all really cool!

I want to level something on Hardcore but the servers have not been stable enough for me yet, constant lag spikes and time outs.
I love the idea, but it'd be ideal for offline.

I'm sorry, but hardcore is the ONLY way to play Diablo. I played a SC character for 10 levels to unlock it and never looked back. Playing SC in Diablo is like playing poker with fake money, sure you CAN do it, but what's the point. I have friends who play SC and keep trying to brag about accomplishments, but I just shake my head in pity. Two deaths so far anyway, not too bad.

Atticus - Level 22 Barbarian - Got disconnected in the middle of a fight and wasn't packing enough vit to live through the disconnect timer, had relied too much on life steal. RIP Atticus.

Shota - Level 26 Witch Doctor - First time trying Belial, didn't know what to expect so didn't know how to dodge his attacks. RIP Shota.

Currently I am on my third character, Addfwyn, who is a level 40 Monk and in A2 Nightmare. Still going strong! The only advice I can give to people trying HC for the first time is to stack lots and lots of Vit. SC players criminally undervalue Vit, you can never have too much.

@Addfwyn: After finishing the campaign i totally see where you are coming from, it kinda felt like playing the game with stabilizers on for the SC mode, just click on things til it/you die - get ressed run back in and click some more! HC really feels like you are being forced to pay attention and utilise all your skills in a way that shows the best parts of the game.

I kind of like it that way, games like assassins creed also have fairly decent combat mechanics that i never explored because all i needed to do was hold block and counter a dude as they came at me one at a time! when it's that effective why bother changing it up and seeing what it has to offer? HC makes you explore those depths, just to help you keep your toons alive!

A question if i may - would you say stacking VIT takes priority over all other attributes when it comes to HC? Say on my current demon hunter run, if an item gave me a decent VIT bonus at the expense of a little deeps or protection would it be worth it? or is it just a passive stat to upgrade when you can find the time? And similarly would vampiric/leeching weapons take priority over dps for a character that has limited healing ability?

@TaliciaDragonsong: I know exactly what you mean, i've been lucky in my 2nd run through so far, but playing co-op with my SC character and friends occasionally it'll 'warp lag back' a few seconds into a horrible acid pool or champion mob and I can't help but think 'If this was HC, i'd be so fucking mad right now' xD

@L1GHTN1N: The skeletons in that area do seem like complete assholes compared to the rest of the game - soak up so much more damage! and yeah wallers can go fuck themselves as far as im concernes apart from the horrible mortar mobs they are my absolute biggest pet hate! Good effort on that run though :D

@OmegaPirate: Yup, that's the idea. Once you go HC, it's tough to go back. The easiest way to explain what makes HC so great to people is just have them play it for a while. That high level of risk is what gives you such a great feeling of accomplishment.

As far as HC, there's no hard and fast rule about an exact number of Vit to have, though I can say safely that you can never have too much Vit. On my current HC Monk, I generally have significantly more Vit than I have Dex (sitting at about 13k hp in A2 NM). If you can get a good chunk of Vit in exchange for a little dps stats, it's probably worthwhile. As far as protection stats, that's a trickier decision. In the case of my Monk, I rely a LOT on my passive to give my protection/mitigation, and focus on Vit for my gear. For example, my passives give a flat 15% dodge, 100% of my dex into armour, and bonus resists. This allows me to generally focus only on dex/vit without having to worry about other mitigation nearly as much. Not exactly sure how that turns out for DH.

With limited healing, some kind of leeching is going to be desired, though more dps is also going to allow you to leech for more. Amethyst can be valuable for that, allowing you to socket a high damage weapon with life leech, but amethyst is EXTREMELY valuable on Hardcore. It's essentially the only gem people use in every slot, and as a result can be hard to get your hands on. Rubies on your weapons aren't a bad call either if you are comfortable with your amount of leeching. Otherwise, Amethyst all the way.

Sorry I can't give you specifics, it's new content still, especially for HC players. Always play it safe though, so never feel that you are overdoing it on Vit.

I just started Nightmare with my HC Demon Hunter and haven't died in D3 yet, but leading up to D3 (a bit off topic maybe) I played some D2 again. Did a trap Assassin and managed to solo all the difficulties untwinked for the first time. Baal and the Ancients are really scary in Hell, especially when you're undergeared and underlevelled (as you will be). An hour or so after managing that feat however I went to do some Pindleskin runs to see if I could get better gear. I ran just a bit too far forward, he charged me and I got KO'd (he was cursed).

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/1263/screenshot059gc.jpg

I was lvl 80

My hardcore characters death happened in Act 1 on my way to the butcher. Playing a Barbarian (which in itself is not an ideal Hardcore character). Anyways I'm fighting a blue pack (knockback special ability) and I'm doing okay in the fight. Get down to 50% health and leap away but like any good D3 story I rubberband back to the mob, get knocked in the air. With my leap ability down I start spamming my potion button but before it can go through I die.

Been happy with experimenting in the hardcore mode in a game like Dungeons of Dredmor & after getting up to level 10 in D3 with a Witchdoctor in hardcore mode it wasn't too tough but after seeing the rest of the D3 game & all the ways I died (mostly wallers, motars or lag spikes dropping the frames per second to 1-5), I got turned off on hardcore mode over just trying the harder difficulties. Something about the permadeath in Dungeons of Dredmor isn't that bad due to the amount of time it takes to play the game & get somewhere so for me that lower time commitment makes it easier to deal with compared to D3 or other games.

Barely into a Hardcore character run (Level 9 Demon Hunter) - not really focusing on it, but this thread is a good resource for cautionary tales.

Edit 6/11 - This character made it to level 14 where he was killed by a spiderling (but actually he was killed by a dropped connection in the middle of combat - ugh).

I've got a lvl 23 DH in Hardcore mode. It's very nerve-wrecking in a Dark Souls kind of way. I love it, but so far so good. Just keeping my distance. 

Had a stupid death in early Act II. After I got the Enchantress and we got to that illusion ambush I let my warrior get surrounded, had my potions on cooldown, and didn't have my stun or multi-target moves equipped. Just like that he was gone.

Lost my lvl 60 DH a few days ago. Tried out Inferno, got stuck on the environment and a zombie hit me once and I died. Wasn't exactly a glass cannon DH either, 45k HP, close to 200 res all.

@OmegaPirate: That story is pretty epic.

Also, what does Hardcore do exactly? Is permanent death the only change?

I haven't died yet. When it happens, I'll let you guys know.

@Addfwyn said:

@OmegaPirate: Yup, that's the idea. Once you go HC, it's tough to go back. The easiest way to explain what makes HC so great to people is just have them play it for a while. That high level of risk is what gives you such a great feeling of accomplishment.

This. So far, I'm only level 26...but I feel like I've accomplished more at this point than anything on my main in Inferno mode. I'm really praying to make it to Inferno with my HC toon.

@valrog: Permadeath, seperate AH and coop games, and bonus achievements.

But I think most people play it for the thrill.

RIP Flidais, level 47 Demon Hunter. Died on HC Apocalypse day, when I opened a door in A3 NM and got a lag spike. On the other side of side door where about ten Fallen Maniacs waiting to give me a hug. A very explosive bloody hug.

Next run is a Barbarian. Hoping to top my Wizard's progress, still my furthest (A1 Hell)

Up to chapter 3, I forget to line gun mine the infector so everything goes wrong as it spawns slashers everywhere as I desperately try to keep the pukers and exploders at bay.

@valrog: It's a seperate toggle from difficulty that basically means that when you die once, that character is gone for good - it has a seperate set of unlocks and achievements and generally has a much higher level of tensions whilst playing :D

@jakob187: Keep at it man, remember to keep stacking a ton of vitality and survivability above all else, especially on nightmare mode and up!

@Addfwyn: Dude that sucks so hard :( i heard about how many toons were wiped on that day and can't believe blizz are seemingly unwilling to make an exception and roll back for everyone that got shit on for it. Good luck on your barb! and good effort on reaching hell!

@Grissefar: Those infectors are real bitches, even on normal mode the amount of times i found myself at crit health because of random pools of plague popping up without me noticing!

At the moment i'm still alive on my 2nd HC toon, not had as much time as i wouldve liked to dedicate to it but so far sitting in act 2 forgotten ruins on nightmare - level 42. Suicide bombers are just as horrible as i imagined them, and earlier a pack of those bastard wasps that shoot other wasps had the walling and arcane abilities, whilst a 2nd pack froze me in a walled arcae tunnel of death - barely made it out alive and proceeded to go stack a ton more vit gems - dread to think what hells gonna be like.

Also, anybody got any experience of Whimsyshire on HC?? i've got all the matts to make the staff on my HC account and wondering whether it's worth gearing up with a WS run - or is it just ridiculous to even contemplate?

Keep it up guys, we are the deathless!!

@OmegaPirate: I only done Normal and NM Whimyshire, but it wasn't bad at all. Can't say after that.

Keep it up guys, we are the deathless!!

Might I suggest "What is dead may never die" for our battle cry?

@Addfwyn: I love it!

Sounds intense, maybe I'll give it a try when I get to know my class better. Are any of you playing alone?

@OmegaPirate said:

@Grissefar: Those infectors are real bitches, even on normal mode the amount of times i found myself at crit health because of random pools of plague popping up without me noticing!

Yeah, they can really fuck you up. The wierd thing about them is that it takes so long to kill them while they are sucking a face. You'd think a single shot to the trunk should sever that thing but no, it takes something like 5 shots, or a full ripper blade duration. Meanwhile, other enemies in the room are free to bang you up. That's why I found it real useful to drop a mine on it, which can free you up to kill other stuff, saving you a ton of trouble.

I would never attempt this mode. I guarantee my first death would be a result of an issue with their servers, which seem to be really acting up as of late. I like the idea of perma-death being punishment for your mistake, not the result of things out of your control.

Yeah, hardcore is great, but no way am I losing hours of progress due to some server issue that is out of my control. I loved to play hardcore with friends over LAN in Diablo 2. Sometimes we would make new characters, level them up to 9, then aggro each other and fight until only one character remained. Fun way to force yourself to develop strategies for low-level play.

Lost my second HC character, Min the Demon Hunter, to a Shadow Clone in the Diablo fight (on Normal). My friend's Witch Doctor shadow wrecked me in three hits of the skullfire attack and it was over.

Didn't die yet, 35 Barbarian and 23 DH, but I have a lot of bad connections which will probably someday be the end of my characters.
 
Best disconnect ever happened to me last night, I was literally 1 inch away from starting Diablo and connection died.
If I had started the fight I would have no doubt died (or if I'm lucky it would log me out in those 10 seconds in the cutscene.

HC sounds really interesting, but unfortunately my internet connection isn't reliable enough. I've died too many times on Normal and Nightmare from being totally fine, then get some lag, then all of a sudden I'm dead.

I've been having rrreally bad luck with demon hunters, my hardcore career so far consists of:

lvl 40 barbarian in nightmare

lvl 23 Witch doctor / Wizard / Monk each at the beginning of act 3

And for demon hunters,

I had a level 25 as my first hardcore character that died to a pack of elite lickers in the keep in act 3 (which I was glad to hear they're getting nerfed in 1.03! :D) as they all licked me simultaneously when I turned a corner.

My second demon hunter which I was completely ready for lickers, died also in the keep... to a fire trap... you know, the grated floor that spews fire upwards.. yeah, not my finest hour haha. My friends get a good laugh out of it when they saw that I "wasted" 9 hours just to die to an environmental trap.

And my third demon hunter didn't even get past Act 1 before battle.net decided to lag out :( I was in the cathedral and saw that my rapid fire animation didn't stop after I stopped using it, and then I moved away from the swarm of monsters that were attacking me only to find my health still dropping. I used a potion and it didn't register. At this point I was like "Uh oh" but checked that my lag was still in the green so 5 seconds later I was dead, and then after mashing the "return to character selection" button for about 10 seconds after I had died, a message popped up and said "You've been disconnected from Battle.net!" Great >.>, ahh well. At least my other guys are still alive, I wouldn't mind getting a HC DH leveled up though.

@cmblasko: This is why I eagerly await pvp, and really hope they will let HC PvP legitimately happen. One death, your gone. None of this dumb arena stuff where death isn't real.