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Hardcore
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[[File:P14-hardcore-creation1.jpg|thumb|350px|Hardcore character creation tooltip warning.]]'''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. The infamous "[[deeds]]" message displays upon death, so players are never in doubt as to their fate. Diablo III added a [[Hall of Heroes]] where players can archive their dead HC characters, though only to look at them as they were at death; not to access any of their gear or inventory.
When Hardcore characters
==Trading in Hardcorevs. Softcore Differences==
Some of the difficulty differences in [[D3v2]] and Reaper of Souls put pressure on Hardcore players will still be able to trade item for itemplay, should an item-based currency develop, amongst themselves as they do many desirable things in Diablo 2game such as [[Legendary Materials]], [[Death's Breath]]s, etc, drop more often on higher difficulty levels. Legendary items drop more often on higher difficulty levels, and there are some special items, including [[Keys]] and [[Demonic Organs]] required to create [[Hellfire Rings]] that '''''only''''' drop on [[Torment]] difficulty, this is more of a hurdle for Hardcore players to clear.
This minor inconvenience was something the developers felt was necessary just to keep a brand new player from creating a Hardcore character without knowing the first thing about the game or the consequences of the act. (In Diablo 2 players had to beat normal difficulty first, which was annoying when creating a new account purely to stick Hardcore [[mule]] characters on it.)
==Trading in Hardcore==
===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 Death 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===
The character is mortal and therefore death is final. The items on the character's body are lost forever as are the items in your inventory (backpack). Your items do not pop off your body onto the ground when you die so a friend can not pick them up to pass onto you later. It is all gone.
==Paying to Resurrect Hardcore Characters?=Hall of Heroes===
As of Reaper of Souls (with proper Arena PvP still a distant dream) Hardcore [[brawling]] works exactly the same as softcore Brawling. Neither is a popular game mode, but in both cases death is not permanent and brings no experience or item durability loss. Fans have long anticipated a full Arena Deathmatch style of PvP, as we saw in the Blizzcon 2009 and 2010 demos, but as of RoS this is still not a feature in the live game. If/when it appears, Hardcore players hope they will be able to take part without permanent consequences.
===Hardcore characters can duel other Hardcore characters in the PvP [[Battle Arena]], just like normal characters. The big issue was not about dueling, but about the consequences thereof. After all, Hardcore characters stay dead once they die to monsters, while the Diablo III Arena is designed for very fast action and repeated deaths, with the winning team the one that dies less in 10 minutes.Debate===
After two years of often bitter debate, the Diablo III team changed their initial plans, and announced at BlizzCon 2011 that Hardcore characters would no longer "die" when engaging in Arena PvP.[http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/blizzcon/pc/games/156898.Diablo-III/features/138132.20111026.Blizzards-Wyatt-Cheng-and-Andrew-Chambers-on-Diablo-III/]
<blue>Wyatt Cheng: Our current position is that you don’t die in DiabloWikiPvP PvP in DiabloWikiHardcore Hardcore mode. So what happened in Diablo II is that anyone who wanted to do Hardcore PvP would basically level a character to level 10, and then they’d find another level 10 character, and they’d fight and one would die. That’s just not really that interesting. So we’re just going to let players engage in PvP. </blue>
Cracks in the armor of this opinion began to show in mid-2011, when [[Jay Wilson]] alluded to internal conflict on this issue. He said that some of the "strike team" were arguing for a non-permanent death mode for Hardcore dueling, since they feared it would just result in HC players never getting to duel with their own characters.
===Hardcore Dueling Arguments===
* 2) HC Chars should have a non-lethal Arena option. -- 522 votes, 29.41%
* 3) No opinion/don't care. -- 366 votes, 20.62%
==D3 Hardcore History of Development==
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.
===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===
[[File:Rip-dh-waller1.jpg|thumb|400px|Hardcore death with the "[[deeds]]" message.]]
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.
===September 2010===
'''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
This promise was not actually fulfilled, and Hardcore characters in game or on Battle.net chat do not look any different than Softcore characters. In fact, players often have trouble telling their HC and SC chars apart, with only an added overhead red light setting Hardcore apart in the character selection screen.
===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.
Players were hugely opposed to this in theory, and it was never implemented into the game in any fashion.
===Perks and Difficulty===
With the introduction of the [[banner]] system, hardcore characters now gain a bit of prestige in the form of added decoration options to a hardcore player's banner, including bloodied skulls littering the base of it.
Hardcore players are not receiving a gentle treatment, much to the delight of fans. There will be certain tweaks to the game that may make the game even more difficult than the softcore counterpart, such as adding [[debuff]]s to [[boss]]es that effectively [[nerf]] the effectiveness of a player, causing them to have to play even more cautiously than before.
In addition to this, Blizzard has no plans to go easy on hardcore players in the new [[Inferno]] difficulty mode, as explained by [[Bashiok]][http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/hardcore-cant-cut-it-in-inferno]:
<blue>We don’t have any plans to restrict or change the game difficulty for Hardcore characters.
Surviving the challenges thrown at you by outplaying them is the entire point. Hardcore characters that take on Inferno and survive will be granted cosmetic rewards for their efforts.</blue>
<br>
==Additional HC ContentHardcore Resources== Diablo 3 / Reaper of Souls Hardcore:* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/diablo3/game-features/hardcore All Hardcore News via Diablo.IncGamers.com]* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/columns/one-life-to-live Xanth's infamous Hardcore column, One Life to Live]* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?140-Diablo-3-Hardcore-Forum Diablo 3/RoS Hardcore forum]* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?179-Hardcore-Graveyard Diablo 3/RoS HC Graveyard] Diablo 2 Hardcore:* {{wl|[http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Hardcore Diablo 2 Hardcore Mode]}}* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?30-Hardcore Hardcore Diablo 2 Forum]* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/537 D2 Hardcore Graveyard Image Gallery]
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?179-Hardcore-Graveyard
[[Category:Hardcore]]
[[category:strategy]]
[[category:basics]]