06-19-2012, 11:34 PM
Mongo, you do not need to preach to me about variantism. Check Lemming's old Variant Database: I created my fair share. Nothing I made compares to that of the true masters, but I got plenty of fun out of their works too 
As for hardcore, I played Ironman in Diablo all the time, and had multiple hardcore characters in Diablo II (including a three-dotted lvl99). The reasons I do not touch hardcore in Diablo III are lag and cheap mechanics. Try coming to Australia to play and you will understand why I cite lag as a reason
Cheap mechanics mean losing a hardcore character in Diablo III does not always feel fair. If you make a mistake, sure, learn not to do that again. If you fight Rakanoth not knowing about his one-shot attack and lose your character, that is not fair; discovering the Out of Time debuff for the first time is also unfair because it is not in the manual (and just a stupid mechanic anyway). Some Elite combinations are just not fair, and just not fun either.
Even in softcore, I try to avoid death at all costs; I consider it losing the fight. My characters have suffered few deaths, and they can usually be attributed to something cheap (eg loading a game and having a Hoard/Plague/Mortar/Jailer mob spawn on the checkpoint). I do not play glass canons who `graveyard zerg'; I play high-defense, high-life characters who do everything possible to avoid death, I just choose to play softcore so bad luck or cheap mechanics do not equal game over. Some people (eg Frag) are happy enough to play with that caveat; I am not, plain and simple.
Also, Hell difficulty is easy mode. You cannot understand because you have not played Inferno. My Demon Hunter tanked most of Hell difficulty (stand and deliver tanking, not Smoke Screen cheese), because few enemies had the slightest possibility of causing any significant harm to her. I cannot do this in Inferno difficulty, plain and simple: I have to play with skill to avoid death. Sometimes, even skill is meaningless due to the way the game was `balanced'.
As for hardcore, I played Ironman in Diablo all the time, and had multiple hardcore characters in Diablo II (including a three-dotted lvl99). The reasons I do not touch hardcore in Diablo III are lag and cheap mechanics. Try coming to Australia to play and you will understand why I cite lag as a reason
Cheap mechanics mean losing a hardcore character in Diablo III does not always feel fair. If you make a mistake, sure, learn not to do that again. If you fight Rakanoth not knowing about his one-shot attack and lose your character, that is not fair; discovering the Out of Time debuff for the first time is also unfair because it is not in the manual (and just a stupid mechanic anyway). Some Elite combinations are just not fair, and just not fun either.Even in softcore, I try to avoid death at all costs; I consider it losing the fight. My characters have suffered few deaths, and they can usually be attributed to something cheap (eg loading a game and having a Hoard/Plague/Mortar/Jailer mob spawn on the checkpoint). I do not play glass canons who `graveyard zerg'; I play high-defense, high-life characters who do everything possible to avoid death, I just choose to play softcore so bad luck or cheap mechanics do not equal game over. Some people (eg Frag) are happy enough to play with that caveat; I am not, plain and simple.
Also, Hell difficulty is easy mode. You cannot understand because you have not played Inferno. My Demon Hunter tanked most of Hell difficulty (stand and deliver tanking, not Smoke Screen cheese), because few enemies had the slightest possibility of causing any significant harm to her. I cannot do this in Inferno difficulty, plain and simple: I have to play with skill to avoid death. Sometimes, even skill is meaningless due to the way the game was `balanced'.
May the wind pick up your heels and your sword strike true.