So why Hardcore for me?

[vor_lord]

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.

I think I watched this video -- I wish my memory was better. I thought they said that you would need to spend time in early Inferno to gear up to move on.

But I have no evidence of this either.

[MonTy]

Just made my first HC toon (never played Hardcore in Diablo games). Bets on how long my poor Wizard will last?

I'm excited and nervous. Getting my Barbarian into Inferno has taught me the game can be unforgiving, but I'm looking forward to the extra thrill and tactics involved.

[Frag]

Just made my first HC toon (never played Hardcore in Diablo games). Bets on how long my poor Wizard will last?

I'm excited and nervous. Getting my Barbarian into Inferno has taught me the game can be unforgiving, but I'm looking forward to the extra thrill and tactics involved.

Nightmare, act II. You're good.

[VinnieJones]

Well summarized GG. I"m glad I spend a bit of time reading other Lurkers thoughts on the game, given me a bit of a different perspective. I think I've just played far too many mmo's since I last played D2

[Concillian]

I'm enjoying hardcore, but with a daughter potentially tugging on my arm or otherwise needing my immediate attention, I'm likely to be playing softcore anytime before her bedtime so I can get up at any moment if I need to.

[swirly]

I'm enjoying hardcore, but with a daughter potentially tugging on my arm or otherwise needing my immediate attention, I'm likely to be playing softcore anytime before her bedtime so I can get up at any moment if I need to.

One thing that might help with that. If you are playing solo you can pause the game by hitting escape. This works whether you are in softcore or hardcore. I still might consider playing softcore if I were in your situation, but wanted to make sure you know about the pausing.

[Taelas]

Say, what happens if someone joins you while you are paused? Since you can only pause while playing solo, it stands to reason it would unpause the game... which may end up very badly for a hardcore character.

[MongoJerry]

Say, what happens if someone joins you while you are paused? Since you can only pause while playing solo, it stands to reason it would unpause the game... which may end up very badly for a hardcore character.

Never go afk or alt-tab without town portaling to town first.

[Kevin]

Say, what happens if someone joins you while you are paused? Since you can only pause while playing solo, it stands to reason it would unpause the game... which may end up very badly for a hardcore character.

Never go afk or alt-tab without town portaling to town first.

This.


As another note, I've learned that the health bump to mobs from others joining a game happens pretty quick and can be applied to damaged mob and takes their current health up to the same percentage. This got me in an interesting situation with some vampiric guys in Act III Nightmare. I was expecting my next couple of skulls to kill off one or two of them which would give me more space to deal and defend the choke point I was at. Another player joined and they didn't die and I had to kite out sooner than expected which caused a bit of a worry because I spirit walk was still on CD. Potion was up and got chugged but I had to move quite a ways before I could get sorted and then the barb was down and things got mopped up and it was all good, the rush from the worry and on the fly adaptation is part of why I play HC.

But it has made me wonder about the quick join, a feature I quite like and do toggle on and off depending on what I'm doing, I was fine with folks joining that game I was in, I just didn't think there were potential gotchas with the join timing. I didn't think mob health bumps would happen until after your companion was dismissed, but they happened about 2 seconds after the other person joined.

[MongoJerry]

As another note, I've learned that the health bump to mobs from others joining a game happens pretty quick and can be applied to damaged mob and takes their current health up to the same percentage.

Very nice observation to make. I had assumed that the current mobs wouldn't change health but any further ones that you aggrod would. However, it makes sense that this would happen to mobs you are currently fighting, though. It would prevent the exploit where one person aggroes a champ pack in Inferno mode and then messages three of his or her buddies to come in and finish them off.

[Crushar]

Started playing hardcore the other night to see the difference. The game is much more exciting with everything on the line. Consistently dying in the level 10 range but I still enjoy hardcore more. My big revelation last night was there's no shame in running away. Hopefully my skill set will improve. Switching back and forth between modes makes for a nice change of pace.

[Archon_Wing]

Mm, with the way disconnects work and the way the server is going, it pretty much ensures that any hiccup ensures death. Having gotten really lucky to survive 10 second long lag boosts and this pretty much means I feel hc is unplayable atm.

Now, lag was an issue in d2 as well, but I've never died from disc either. But there's a 10 second delay in d3 now.

In d2, you could easily leave the game and be vulnerable for a few seconds if you sensed lag was coming. In d3, you're just fucked.

[Frag]

Haven't had an issue in solo or group play, Archon. Your ping stable?

[FoxBat]

Haven't had an issue in solo or group play, Archon. Your ping stable?

Depends alot on which servers and what time of day, in addition to the usual local connection issues.

[Archon_Wing]

I usually have around 70 ping and I haven't gotten screwed yet. But I've seen other people lag to death quite a bit.

[Concillian]

I only have had 2 major lag spikes and both happened in the first week. Was in normal and survived no problem.

After getting my wizard killed, I took a softcore break, but am back on the horse with a HC monk. I'll still be back and forth between soft and hard core. I want to do some spectral blades / melee wiz in inferno, and that's not gonna happen in hardcore on my schedule.

Amazing how things I stressed over the first play through Hardcore on Normal are things I can be totall nonchalant about the second play through. I suppose a lot of that is actually knowing what lurks around the corner.

[Mavfin]

My 'special project' is a no-bow DH. Kinda melee/punching plus Impale till 15, though. At 15, you get a Hatred generator that doesn't require a bow.

[RiotInferno]

My 'special project' is a no-bow DH. Kinda melee/punching plus Impale till 15, though. At 15, you get a Hatred generator that doesn't require a bow.

Here's a link to a forum post from when I tried that, briefly. It might help.
Here

[MonTy]

Lurkers, I call on you to aid a Hardcore noobie. I'd love any tips that you have come to learn in your experiences.

I've already learned a ton playing with my first few Hardcore characters. At first I was playing too defensive and it actually made some fights more dangerous. Seems you really have to balance out your offense and defense abilities so they don't not hinder eachother. A few technical things I've found is having the "move" key bound to my side mouse buttons, and I've always used spacebar as my potion so that helps even more now.

Other things I'd have to be a lot more mindful of is the enrage timer and those Act 3 fanatics. If I was playing a spellcaster in a group it seems I'd really need to be mindful of spamming my spells, or if I had pets as a WD.

Another factor I have to consider is when to take on act bosses. In softcore it's always easy with trial and error, but this time around I get no error. Of course the obvious one is to adjust your build, but do most of you look up how much damage they do compared to your Effective Hitpoints?

Thanks in advance. It's really a whole new game after playing softcore in all my action rpgs!