Diablo Wiki - User contributions [en]

Hardcore

2011-08-03T08:54:14Z

Strom: /* Hardcore Dueling Game Mode Suggestions */ Swapped bias.

'''Hardcore''' characters are exactly the same as regular characters, except that they are mortal. When they [[die]], they stay dead. Forever. No restarting in [[town]]; no restarting anywhere.

Dead hardcore characters in [[Diablo 2]] are able to log back onto the [[Battle.net]] chat channels, but they can not join or create games. It's not known how this aspect of things will be handled in Diablo III.

==D3 Hardcore Confirmed==

After months of "probably" type comments, Hardcore was confirmed as a Diablo 3 feature in August, 2010. Here's a brief timeline of official statements on the subject.

===Return to "Maybe"?===

In June, 2011, [[Kaivax]] made a post on the official bnet forums that added ambiguity back to the future of hardcore mode in Diablo III (click through for the whole quote)[http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27808131088&pageNo=1&sid=3000#16].

<blue>I will definitely play D3 on hardcore mode (if it is an option).</blue>

===D3 Hardcore Characters Will Look Special===

How HC chars will differ isn't yet known, but the [[D3 Team]] has repeatedly said they'll be set apart from regular characters in some obvious fashion. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-hardcore-and-end-game/]

::''Will hardcore characters be more powerful than normal? --Spectrusv''
::No intent, no. But they’ll definitely have more prestige and flashy things to show off for being so awesome. --Diablo

===June 2008===
From the [[WWI_2008:_D3_Design_Fundamentals_Panel|Diablo 3 Design Fundamentals panel]], at the 2008 WWI event:

::'''Q: Will there be Hardcore mode?'''<br>
::'''A:''' We haven't decided yet, but I don't see why we wouldn't. It’s not a decision we need to make yet. We probably will, though.

===April 2009===

Bashiok in a forum post.[http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/bashiok-on...-everything/]

::'''Question''': Has anymore thought been put into Hardcore? Are any features decided-upon?<br>
::'''[[Bashiok]]:''' I think the last thing I heard from Jay on it in public was something along the lines of “Ok fine we’ll just commit to a hardcore mode here and now” outside of that no details have been released.

===August 2010===
In an interview with GameSpot AU, [[Jay Wilson]] confirmed that Hardcore is definitely returning to Diablo III.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-interview-gamespot-au/]

::Hardcore is definitely returning to Diablo III, but we haven’t decided what sort of special Battle.net features we’ll enable with it. We want to make sure that if you see a HC char on B.net, you’ll know they’re HC. It’s a status symbol, and it’s only one if you know. We’re looking for ways to reward players, and we’re sure we’ll have a set of HC achievements also.

==Paying to Resurrect Hardcore Characters?==

This concept was initially floated in a forum post by Blizzard's Diablo 3 Community Manager [[Bashiok]], in July 2009. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/bashiok-on-death-proof/]. Reaction from the Hardcore community was fairly outraged and almost entirely negative[http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731921], and when the issue came up again in April 2010, Bashiok said it had been pretty much ruled out.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-on-paying-to-revive-hc-characters-and-wow-rmt-pets/]

::Paying to bring back a fallen hardcore character was something I read someone here post once, and I simply repeated it to say I thought it was an interesting idea. I’m not a designer. Things I find interesting doesn’t mean they’re being implemented. I have though heard [[Jay Wilson|Jay]] (who is lead designer) say that paying to bring back hardcore is pretty much a horrible idea.

==Arena PvP==

The current plan, as of late 2010, is for Hardcore dueling to work just like a PvM hardcore game (and not like the normal [[Arena]], where it's team-based, games last for 15 minutes, and the team with the most total round victories wins). In the Hardcore Arena, as initially planned, any death is the end of a character. There's no team play, and no best of 5 or 7, and no 15 minutes of play, as in the regular Arena. One death = no more character, whether that takes 10 seconds or 2 minutes, and whether that char's team wins after his death.

Jay Wilson enthused about instant perma-death Hardcore dueling at Blizzcon 2010, and @Diablo repeated that in November 2010. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-hardcore-pvp/]

::If you PvP in hardcore and you die, you’re dead. Hardcore PvP leader board is going to be... hardcore! --Diablo

::''Yeah, it’ll be hardcore, but it undermines your Arena design. How can you have 3 rounds if you die forever in the first one? --NocturneGS
::It doesn’t undermine anything. Although I would expect it to become most popular at specific skill tier unlocks.—Diablo

===Hardcore Dueling Arguments===

This has proven a very contentious subject, with strong opinions on both sides. Some threads with much debate about the issue:

* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=785939 HC Dueling in D3?]
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=732438 PvP HC Dueling Without Permanent Death]
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-hardcore-pvp/ How about HC dueling?]
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/vote-hardcore-pvp/ Diii.net ran a vote on the issue] in November 2010, which spawned another long comment thread of people on both sides of the issue. The vote results:
** 1) HC Arena should be always HC. -- 887 votes, 49.97%
** 2) HC Chars should have a non-lethal Arena option. -- 522 votes, 29.41%
** 3) No opinion/don't care. -- 366 votes, 20.62%
*** Total Votes: 1775

===Hardcore Dueling Game Mode Suggestions===

There are numerous fan suggestions to make HC dueling like SC dueling by people who are afraid of dieing.
* An arena practice mode which would work just like SC dueling. Perma-death duels would remain an option if both players agreed.
* A best-of format for HC duels, where the most kills in 5 or 10 or 15 minutes would rule out, and the other team would die. (How to stop disconnects before the time limit is an issue.)
** Equipment wagering penalty. The characters in a duel put up all (or some) of their equipment as bond; if they leave the game before the conclusion, all of their gear goes to the other team/player. This would punish chicken-hack disconnecters, while hurting someone who got actually did lose connection, but at least leaving their character alive.
* A team format, where all 3 players on a team would stay alive if that team won. This could go one single round, or best of 3/5/7 rounds, to make it more skill and less luck-based than a single fall match.

==Additional HC Content==
* You can read more about the Hardcore Mode of [[Diablo II]] in DiabloWiki {{wl|[http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Hardcore Hardcore Mode]}}
* [http://forums.diii.net/forumdisplay.php?f=140 Hardcore D3 Forum]
* [http://forums.diii.net/forumdisplay.php?f=30 Hardcore D2 Forum]
* [http://www.diii.net/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=532 D2 Hardcore Graveyard Image Gallery]

[[category:reference]]
[[Category:Gameplay]]
[[category:basics]]

Hardcore

2011-08-03T08:52:27Z

Strom: /* Hardcore Dueling Arguments */ Removed extremely biased opinions.

'''Hardcore''' characters are exactly the same as regular characters, except that they are mortal. When they [[die]], they stay dead. Forever. No restarting in [[town]]; no restarting anywhere.

Dead hardcore characters in [[Diablo 2]] are able to log back onto the [[Battle.net]] chat channels, but they can not join or create games. It's not known how this aspect of things will be handled in Diablo III.

==D3 Hardcore Confirmed==

After months of "probably" type comments, Hardcore was confirmed as a Diablo 3 feature in August, 2010. Here's a brief timeline of official statements on the subject.

===Return to "Maybe"?===

In June, 2011, [[Kaivax]] made a post on the official bnet forums that added ambiguity back to the future of hardcore mode in Diablo III (click through for the whole quote)[http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27808131088&pageNo=1&sid=3000#16].

<blue>I will definitely play D3 on hardcore mode (if it is an option).</blue>

===D3 Hardcore Characters Will Look Special===

How HC chars will differ isn't yet known, but the [[D3 Team]] has repeatedly said they'll be set apart from regular characters in some obvious fashion. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-hardcore-and-end-game/]

::''Will hardcore characters be more powerful than normal? --Spectrusv''
::No intent, no. But they’ll definitely have more prestige and flashy things to show off for being so awesome. --Diablo

===June 2008===
From the [[WWI_2008:_D3_Design_Fundamentals_Panel|Diablo 3 Design Fundamentals panel]], at the 2008 WWI event:

::'''Q: Will there be Hardcore mode?'''<br>
::'''A:''' We haven't decided yet, but I don't see why we wouldn't. It’s not a decision we need to make yet. We probably will, though.

===April 2009===

Bashiok in a forum post.[http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/bashiok-on...-everything/]

::'''Question''': Has anymore thought been put into Hardcore? Are any features decided-upon?<br>
::'''[[Bashiok]]:''' I think the last thing I heard from Jay on it in public was something along the lines of “Ok fine we’ll just commit to a hardcore mode here and now” outside of that no details have been released.

===August 2010===
In an interview with GameSpot AU, [[Jay Wilson]] confirmed that Hardcore is definitely returning to Diablo III.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-interview-gamespot-au/]

::Hardcore is definitely returning to Diablo III, but we haven’t decided what sort of special Battle.net features we’ll enable with it. We want to make sure that if you see a HC char on B.net, you’ll know they’re HC. It’s a status symbol, and it’s only one if you know. We’re looking for ways to reward players, and we’re sure we’ll have a set of HC achievements also.

==Paying to Resurrect Hardcore Characters?==

This concept was initially floated in a forum post by Blizzard's Diablo 3 Community Manager [[Bashiok]], in July 2009. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/bashiok-on-death-proof/]. Reaction from the Hardcore community was fairly outraged and almost entirely negative[http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=731921], and when the issue came up again in April 2010, Bashiok said it had been pretty much ruled out.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-on-paying-to-revive-hc-characters-and-wow-rmt-pets/]

::Paying to bring back a fallen hardcore character was something I read someone here post once, and I simply repeated it to say I thought it was an interesting idea. I’m not a designer. Things I find interesting doesn’t mean they’re being implemented. I have though heard [[Jay Wilson|Jay]] (who is lead designer) say that paying to bring back hardcore is pretty much a horrible idea.

==Arena PvP==

The current plan, as of late 2010, is for Hardcore dueling to work just like a PvM hardcore game (and not like the normal [[Arena]], where it's team-based, games last for 15 minutes, and the team with the most total round victories wins). In the Hardcore Arena, as initially planned, any death is the end of a character. There's no team play, and no best of 5 or 7, and no 15 minutes of play, as in the regular Arena. One death = no more character, whether that takes 10 seconds or 2 minutes, and whether that char's team wins after his death.

Jay Wilson enthused about instant perma-death Hardcore dueling at Blizzcon 2010, and @Diablo repeated that in November 2010. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-hardcore-pvp/]

::If you PvP in hardcore and you die, you’re dead. Hardcore PvP leader board is going to be... hardcore! --Diablo

::''Yeah, it’ll be hardcore, but it undermines your Arena design. How can you have 3 rounds if you die forever in the first one? --NocturneGS
::It doesn’t undermine anything. Although I would expect it to become most popular at specific skill tier unlocks.—Diablo

===Hardcore Dueling Arguments===

This has proven a very contentious subject, with strong opinions on both sides. Some threads with much debate about the issue:

* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=785939 HC Dueling in D3?]
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=732438 PvP HC Dueling Without Permanent Death]
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-hardcore-pvp/ How about HC dueling?]
* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/vote-hardcore-pvp/ Diii.net ran a vote on the issue] in November 2010, which spawned another long comment thread of people on both sides of the issue. The vote results:
** 1) HC Arena should be always HC. -- 887 votes, 49.97%
** 2) HC Chars should have a non-lethal Arena option. -- 522 votes, 29.41%
** 3) No opinion/don't care. -- 366 votes, 20.62%
*** Total Votes: 1775

===Hardcore Dueling Game Mode Suggestions===

There are numerous fan suggestions to make HC dueling something that players could regularly indulge in, rather than a special cool hardcore bonus prize that almost no one would actually indulge in.
* An arena practice mode which would work just like SC dueling. Perma-death duels would remain an option if both players agreed.
* A best-of format for HC duels, where the most kills in 5 or 10 or 15 minutes would rule out, and the other team would die. (How to stop disconnects before the time limit is an issue.)
** Equipment wagering penalty. The characters in a duel put up all (or some) of their equipment as bond; if they leave the game before the conclusion, all of their gear goes to the other team/player. This would punish chicken-hack disconnecters, while hurting someone who got actually did lose connection, but at least leaving their character alive.
* A team format, where all 3 players on a team would stay alive if that team won. This could go one single round, or best of 3/5/7 rounds, to make it more skill and less luck-based than a single fall match.

==Additional HC Content==
* You can read more about the Hardcore Mode of [[Diablo II]] in DiabloWiki {{wl|[http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Hardcore Hardcore Mode]}}
* [http://forums.diii.net/forumdisplay.php?f=140 Hardcore D3 Forum]
* [http://forums.diii.net/forumdisplay.php?f=30 Hardcore D2 Forum]
* [http://www.diii.net/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=532 D2 Hardcore Graveyard Image Gallery]

[[category:reference]]
[[Category:Gameplay]]
[[category:basics]]