So why Hardcore for me?
#1
OK so I didn't play a lot of hardcore in D2. I did get a toon or two into nightmare, but all my big toons were softcore mode. So why did I get a toon to 10 then immediate log and roll a hardcore character? A character that was choosen based on the roll of a 10 sided die because I had no idea what class I wanted to play first since I liked them all in the beta.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to play hardcore. In fact I know I'm going to play softcore too because there are some builds/set-ups I want to try because I think they will be a ton of fun but I don't want to risk with the hardcore toon. I also think that softcore might be my only option for some of the progression options that D3 has to offer, I'll get to that under the replayability section

D3 removed a lot of tedium which makes single player and multiplayer more fun.
So if my HC toon dies, while I lose that investment, I'm not faced with as much tedium to play through again. I don't have to plan skills out again, I don't have to skip entire huge zones to get to something fun. D2 was a big game. I don't think a D3 full clear is much more than doing a full clear through Act II in D2. D3 also gives you reasons to do full clears because the champions, and rares, and special events are more plentiful, more fun, and so far it seems much less likely to be annoying one shots, they also provide good loot which is the point of the game. I'm not saying they are less dangerous either, just less likely to one shot you. I think D3 is harder than D2, but it's more consistent, and there are skills for every toon that allow you to run away from most situations so you can regroup. For HC this means "stupid deaths" are less likely to happen. That means less chance of major frustration.

D3 has more atmosphere than D2
This makes it more fun to play than D2 as well. I played D1 solo a lot, even though multi was more fun just like in D2 and D3, but that atmosphere, the potential for different events, the feeling that you really were a badass hero were much stronger in D1 than D2. Those are back (and potentially better) in D3 and for me they are enhanced by hardcore mode. If my hardcore toon dies I also get to feel the next one is going to prove that he is even more of a badass hero than the one who died. D2 lacking that feeling meant that a dead HC toon was going to be replaced by just another toon. It was harder to get attached to characters in D2.

This allows me to get something different from the game that I value as enjoyment. But as mentioned this doesn't mean I won't get as much, if not more, enjoyment from some of the things I can do in softcore that I don't want to try in hardcore. I have different moods. Hardcore provides enjoyment for some of those moods better than softcore. Softcore provides it better than hardcore for others.

Being able to still have a lot of fun playing solo (after beating normal mode with all the classes in D2, single player became a lot less fun for me) means I don't have to try and find groups to progress. This makes HC more accessible for me as well.

D3 toons provide progression for your other toons
This applies to both hardcore and softcore. You don't actually lose everything. You keep the upgrades on the artisans and the stash, you keep the money and some items, without the tedium of having to mule them off. You have more than just your memories of the past toon. You have stuff that makes it easier to go through the stuff you've previously done without dying. Again I'll also state the content is simply more fun.

A patch or a mistake in planning will never make my toon no longer viable
In D2, patches changed skills and balance so much that a toon could feel nonviable after a patch. Something that looked good in theory did not play the way you wanted and the toon now felt worthless. Perhaps I should have put this under the "D3 has less tedium" but for me this was a roadblock to hardcore. Frustration from death because I wasn't up for the challenge was one thing, frustration from something completely outside my control was another.

In D3 if a patch changes skills a ton, I can just use something else. There is a gear to skill convergence, yes, some skills work better with some gear, but it's small enough that changing skills around because something got changed shouldn't be too big a deal. In D2 you didn't have that option.

Of course gear drives the game, and if the gear gets screwed up by a patch it might screw you. I can scale back to something early and farm up new stuff that will work if that happens. The game is about farming gear anyway so that isn't as big of a change.

That's another point. As mentioned D3 provides more control. It doesn't eliminate things that can kill you that you can't control, but it lessens them. The online only aspect will get brought up, but the only way to eliminate that was to play single player, even LAN play could cause lag deaths. Besides D2 had a lot of stuff that was online only as well because it was easier to play on battle.net for multiplayer even if you were soloing you had this issue there too, and if you played on the ladder, which was the primary source for providing the "I'm a badass" feel that D3 can provide through story and gameplay, there is no difference than what D3 has now.

For hardcore it boils down to another major point of potential frustration being removed and managing the potential for frustration vs the additional rewards of the challenge tips to making hardcore more viable for me.

D3 has a well defined end point
I know D2 sort of had an end point, L99, but it felt like it had two. Beat Hell/Diablo or Hell/Baal (expansion) and you had beaten the content. If you beat them you had "won" but you were probably only in the L70-80 range. Then there was the farm/grind for 99 but the only drive was to get there, you weren't trying to get anywhere new content wise.

In D3 the level cap hits before the content cap. I think this was a good thing to borrow from MMO's. When the point of the game is to get new gear, it helps to have a reason to use that gear.

So while this seems like a universal driver, it affects me wanting to play hardcore mostly because getting there will mean more to me because the end is more well defined. The game provides me with mechanisms and entertainment to the final victory (Leablo dead in Inferno). D2 did this up to a point and then left it all on you to get to the final endpoint of L99. It also means that HC toons will probably get retired if they ever manage to get through Inferno (which I doubt will happen for me) and maybe I'll run out of slots if I'm an uber D3 player. But that would provide value of it's own.

Hardcore is going to add replayability
You've only got 10 character slots. You had essentially infinite slots in D2. While it's possible to finish a HC toon and have them still use up a character slot I find that less likely and again if you run out of slots because you have 10 HC toons that beat Inferno and still aren't bored with the game Blizzard deserves more money for another account. So when a HC toon dies you retire them to the hall of heroes and open up one of the slots again so you can play again.

In MMO's that use the same basic "gear is character progression that enables content progression" system that D3 has, more content could be added to keep you going. D3 won't be adding content at the same speed an MMO does. The claim in D3 is that Inferno is so difficult that it should take a long time to get through, there will be a lot of impetus to farm past content for better gear to help push through later content. Beating content is a stronger drive to play, and provides more enjoyment for most players than reaching a level cap that is 20 some levels beyond what you need to beat all the content.

I know that isn't going to be all that I want to do based on my past experience so playing hardcore where I figure I will lose toons will give me another option for play that I enjoy.

Diablo 1 had variant scum (if you are new that is a term of affection) that could add more replay. Diablo 3 looks like it will have that option as well. A witch doctor that only uses spells that "summon" something (no darts, no poison cloud, no haunt) or one that never summons (no dogs, no gargantuan, no fetishes). You have those options too, yes, so you don't need hardcore for more replay, but it does offer more "standard" replay that softcore won't have because of the character slot limits.


So there you go, this is why I'm playing hardcore more in D3. I'm playing it first because the value I get from the "I'm a badass" is bigger for me if I hit content I've never seen on a toon that doesn't come back from death. This will probably wear off by the end of nightmare if not sooner so you might see me on more SC toons or another HC class more than the Witch Doctor at that point. But so far it's worked very well for me.
---
It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.
Reply
#2
(05-20-2012, 04:39 PM)Gnollguy Wrote: D3 removed a lot of tedium which makes single player and multiplayer more fun.

D3 has more atmosphere than D2

D3 toons provide progression for your other toons

A patch or a mistake in planning will never make my toon no longer viable

D3 has a well defined end point

Kevin's underlined points here are all reasons I love D3.

Some people confuse the removal of tedium with the removal of challenge. Tedium != Challenge.

On atmosphere, am I the only one who really felt the D1 vibe in Halls of Agony?

I love the shared stash, and the shared gold.

The flexible skill builds, and the stats-by-gear are huge improvements over D2, imo. As GG pointed out, you can get new gear, but if you do stat points or talent points wrong, and don't have a respec, you're screwed.

I just had to amplify GG's big bullet points there, even if I'm not relating them to hardcore. However, with this system, it's not as much of a chore as rerolling an HC char was in D2, so I may dabble in HC myself after a while. Big Grin

Oh, and btw, Kevin, after that, you need the wall back in your sig! Big Grin Tongue
--Mav
Reply
#3
Well, death in this game doesn't seem to have much of a penalty. So there's more of an incentive to not suck at this game. However, due to you being at the mercy of Blizz's server and loss of nice gear as opposed to someone looting you at d2, I'd expect one to play hardcore if they're looking for a quick run. Like a speed run of d3 hc would be something to look at.
With great power comes the great need to blame other people.
Guild Wars 2: (ArchonWing.9480) 
Battle.net (ArchonWing.1480)
Reply
#4
"D2 was a big game. I don't think a D3 full clear is much more than doing a full clear through Act II in D2."

Wow, y'all rationalize LESS CONTENT as a GOOD thing. Less content, less customization, less replayability, all GOOD things at the LurkerLounge. Y'all are crazy.
Reply
#5
I played HC a bit in Diablo II, and am keen to do so in Diablo II, but not until I have more confidence in the servers. I have way too many desyncs to have the trust to play HC. Losing your character because of Blizzard, rather than your own error, would ruin the game for me.

By the way, how do you ignore someone? Never done it before, but I am sick of Clams' scratched record. He is probably lame enough to enter Federal Politics here in Australia: all they do is make pointless `NO U' statements too.
May the wind pick up your heels and your sword strike true.
Reply
#6
(05-20-2012, 09:30 PM)Elric of Grans Wrote: By the way, how do you ignore someone? Never done it before, but I am sick of Clams' scratched record. He is probably lame enough to enter Federal Politics here in Australia: all they do is make pointless `NO U' statements too.

1) Click on their username to go to their profile page
2) Click on, and I kid you not, "Add to Ignore List Add to Ignore List" on the right.

That's the quickest way to go about it, and you can always electively display their posts on a one-by-one basis.
Reply
#7
Done, thanks for the help!

*puts Bolty on ignore* Worst Troll ever.
May the wind pick up your heels and your sword strike true.
Reply
#8
(05-20-2012, 09:12 PM)ClamsAreHot Wrote: "D2 was a big game. I don't think a D3 full clear is much more than doing a full clear through Act II in D2."

Wow, y'all rationalize LESS CONTENT as a GOOD thing. Less content, less customization, less replayability, all GOOD things at the LurkerLounge. Y'all are crazy.

So your plan now is to flame indiscriminately until you get banned? If so, let me know and I can help you along with that plan.
Reply
#9
Inferno is pretty far beyond anything the Diablo series has seen before. The amount of QQ on the topic is epic, SC players are going full defense spec and still wiping in 1-2 hits. Right now I wouldn't want the added stress of hardcore when testing out those waters and trying to figure out how to not die horribly too often.

Although really, they should have made death strip a nephalem valor stack, the SC death penalty is really miniscule.
Reply
#10
Inferno mode is most easily described as a "bonus" mode of the game. You don't get additional or better loot for playing it over Hell mode; instead, you're offered an extra insane challenge for boasting reasons. It's fully optional in the sense that playing it will not boost your character in any way.

I don't expect to see Hardcore players taking on Inferno mode for quite some time. It'll happen eventually, of course, but not until people have had the chance to deck themselves with 100% optimal gear and some game patches have come in to stabilize balance and such. Right now, progress in Inferno mode is measured in how many deaths it takes to kill an enemy, such that your deaths may outnumber the monsters' deaths. Smile

I mean, look at Method's Inferno mode Diablo kill. Their strategy included forced suicides to make the nightmare part of the fight doable. And as we're all learning by now, the random champion / rare packs are the REAL boss fights of this game, not the end bosses.
Quote:Considering the mods here are generally liberals who seem to have a soft spot for fascism and white supremacy (despite them saying otherwise), me being perma-banned at some point is probably not out of the question.
Reply
#11
(05-20-2012, 04:39 PM)Gnollguy Wrote: D2 was a big game. I don't think a D3 full clear is much more than doing a full clear through Act II in D2.

Great post, but this statement really confused me, because I feel the complete opposite. I never rushed my character in D2 -- I always played through every act, including Act III -- and D3 feels so much longer (and richer) than D2 was. I think what might be giving the impression of shorter acts is that in D3, they are well broken down into sub-acts, and sometimes it's easy to forget about a whole sub-act until you get there.

For example, last night, we spent hours going through Act 2 and once we finshed off Zultan Kuhl's body, people expressed being tired and needing to go to bed. I said, well, let's get the black soulstone first, because that's a good stopping place -- thinking that that event was just coming up. Then, a second after saying that, I remembered that there were three more levels of dungeons to clear through before we got to that spot and recanted the idea.

And this doesn't take into account all of the side caves and events that occur in the middle of the maps that one could technically skip (much like you could skip them in D2) but are so worth doing in D3.
Reply
#12
(05-21-2012, 05:22 PM)MongoJerry Wrote: And this doesn't take into account all of the side caves and events that occur in the middle of the maps that one could technically skip (much like you could skip them in D2) but are so worth doing in D3.

Yeah, I'm very much an explore it all, even when redoing, because D3 is about the boss packs anyway, not as much the bosses.

The main bosses are just signposts, really, on the road that gets you to the champion/rare/elite packs. I love exploring the caves, never knowing what's around that next corner.

That's why I don't play public. I'm not into rushing around as fast as I can go. I can play WoW if I want that. D3 is something I can run at my speed. Big Grin
--Mav
Reply
#13
(05-21-2012, 05:37 PM)Mavfin Wrote: That's why I don't play public. I'm not into rushing around as fast as I can go. I can play WoW if I want that. D3 is something I can run at my speed. Big Grin

You might try playing public for a fun change of pace. In my experiences so far, people seem to like going into side caves and running events, because they want to level up and find items so that they don't die. The situation may change in a few months when people have a lot of twink gear stored up and just want to get back to Hell/Inferno, but for now, most people seem to like taking it slow.
Reply
#14
(05-21-2012, 03:25 PM)Bolty Wrote: Inferno mode is most easily described as a "bonus" mode of the game. You don't get additional or better loot for playing it over Hell mode; instead, you're offered an extra insane challenge for boasting reasons. It's fully optional in the sense that playing it will not boost your character in any way.

Are you absolutely certain of that, Bolty? I remember a pre-release video where the developers were saying that not only would Inferno have its own gear but each Act of Inferno would have a gradually progressing set of gear designed for them. Unfortunately, I tried finding those developer videos on Blizzard's website to be sure, but I couldn't find those pre-release videos.
Reply
#15
(05-21-2012, 06:32 PM)MongoJerry Wrote: Are you absolutely certain of that, Bolty?

Can't say that I am, no. That's what I had read, at least.
Quote:Considering the mods here are generally liberals who seem to have a soft spot for fascism and white supremacy (despite them saying otherwise), me being perma-banned at some point is probably not out of the question.
Reply
#16
(05-21-2012, 05:22 PM)MongoJerry Wrote:
(05-20-2012, 04:39 PM)Gnollguy Wrote: D2 was a big game. I don't think a D3 full clear is much more than doing a full clear through Act II in D2.

Great post, but this statement really confused me, because I feel the complete opposite. I never rushed my character in D2 -- I always played through every act, including Act III -- and D3 feels so much longer (and richer) than D2 was. I think what might be giving the impression of shorter acts is that in D3, they are well broken down into sub-acts, and sometimes it's easy to forget about a whole sub-act until you get there.

For example, last night, we spent hours going through Act 2 and once we finshed off Zultan Kuhl's body, people expressed being tired and needing to go to bed. I said, well, let's get the black soulstone first, because that's a good stopping place -- thinking that that event was just coming up. Then, a second after saying that, I remembered that there were three more levels of dungeons to clear through before we got to that spot and recanted the idea.

And this doesn't take into account all of the side caves and events that occur in the middle of the maps that one could technically skip (much like you could skip them in D2) but are so worth doing in D3.

I don't deny that D3 is richer, that's a huge plus, I'm not incentivized to skip as much as I can. But I did specificy full clear. All three levels of the sewers, all 9 of Tal Rasha's tombs, everything in the Arcane sanctuary, the entire maggot lair, all of those massive outdoor areas, every level of all the random areas. I've got all of about 30 hours of play on the HC toon I was playing with you last night, that cleared normal and nearly to the end of Act II. That was full clearing most everything and several hours of farming old content solo and in groups.

Maybe my memory is wrong but a full clear of D2 really felt a lot longer than that on a first play through (no twinking) which compares to where my WD is because this is first play through.

I know other folks share your opinion and I think some of that is because they didn't fully map everything in D2 or don't remember how long that took because they did it once then never again because so much of the content was pointless. With all the content in D3 having value people that used to skip stuff aren't now so think it feels bigger. That's my theory.
---
It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.
Reply
#17
(05-21-2012, 05:22 PM)MongoJerry Wrote: ...
And this doesn't take into account all of the side caves and events that occur in the middle of the maps that one could technically skip (much like you could skip them in D2) but are so worth doing in D3.
I agree with you... it feels bigger than D2. Especially, the caves and such. In DII, I always felt they were optional content with some additional treasure, but in D3 they have their own little subplots and unique twists (timed dungeons, unique types of mobs, storylines, etc.). I don't really want to skip them now.
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.

[Image: yVR5oE.png][Image: VKQ0KLG.png]

Reply
#18
(05-21-2012, 05:22 PM)MongoJerry Wrote: Great post, but this statement really confused me, because I feel the complete opposite. I never rushed my character in D2 -- I always played through every act, including Act III -- and D3 feels so much longer (and richer) than D2 was. I think what might be giving the impression of shorter acts is that in D3, they are well broken down into sub-acts, and sometimes it's easy to forget about a whole sub-act until you get there.

Personally, I felt Act I was larger than any act of Diablo II. Lots of places to explore, lots of content. Act II felt shorter, but was still probably as long as any part of Diablo II. Act III felt shorter still, but was *intense*: I felt it needed to be shorter so I did not pass out from the constant tension. Act IV was definitely shorter still, but pushed the intensity up another notch. Overall, I think it is slightly larget than Diablo II, but I think the intensity (which Diablo II never came close to meeting) makes it feel even larger still. That said, that is *per playthough*: I know perfectly well there are dozens of dungeons and many events that I have not seen with either character I have played so far. That adds a lot of extra content over Diablo II, albeit only on re-plays.
May the wind pick up your heels and your sword strike true.
Reply
#19
Nice post. Frag has me tempted to try Hardcore after listening to him speak about it. I love the idea of having formulate strategy to try and defeat some champion packs, instead of most people in Softcore just charging in and think later.
Reply
#20
(05-22-2012, 12:40 AM)MonTy Wrote: Nice post. Frag has me tempted to try Hardcore after listening to him speak about it. I love the idea of having formulate strategy to try and defeat some champion packs, instead of most people in Softcore just charging in and think later.

If you decide to dabble in it and want some company, give a holler. =)
Intolerant monkey.
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)