Just as in Diablo 2, when a Hardcore character dies in Diablo 3, they stay dead. Permanently. There will be some additional bells and whistles added to HC characters on Battle.net, since the team wants a HC player to be instantly noticeable in the chat channels. At Blizzcon 2010, we also learned that there will be Hardcore options for the [[Battle Arena]] as well. Not for the faint of heart!