Hardcore Diablo

edited August 2001 in Gaming

Comments

  • edited December 1969
    Does anyone else play hardcore? I'm lonely in my little world and sometime would enjoy the company :) I'd rather not play with random realms people as I play quite conservatively, as is a good attitude in HC, and I enjoy thoroughly exploring all the levels and not rushing through things.

    I realize that many people do not play it because of lag and hardware issues, but to me it is very exciting gameplay and its how I split my time playing when I am not gaming with Nate and co. over voice chat.

    The best feeling I have ever had playing Diablo 2:
    Beating Diablo with my hardcore elemental druid. My heart never pounded so much in any other game. Beating Bhaal was rather nice also, but a bit easier.

    Just curious as to people's HC attitudes.

    -Wang, lvl 47 Druid
  • edited December 1969
    Frustration factor would be too high

    I didn't start playing HC because my connection consistently killed me in softcore several times a week. Even with my more stable connection here in Atlanta (And now DSL) there are times when I am disconnected from a game and find myself dead. There have been times recently (Post-LoD) where everyone got thrown out of a game and lost whatever items were on the ground for no evident reason.

    Hardcore does appeal... Solo, where I can isolate deaths to my failure in the game, not the failure of factor X outside the game. I believe you'll find the game considerably more HC friendly now in hell though (At least up to the hell Ancients) because it's soooo much easier to stockpile full rejuvs. Even so, stair/wp traps on many of the levels (None as bad as A4 RoF/City used to be) will probably cause you to save and exit far more often than you'd like, and then yer just as well to play SC. Also bugs like the LEB/FEB/CEB combo damage on conviction bosses and one shot bosses like fanaticism Lister (Or fanat on any Frenzytaur, De Seis in hell, Hephasto with his curse etc.) make melee HC in hell virtually impossible, and hell is the real fun of the game.

    Of course seeing a solo elemental druid in hell is about like seeing a solo necro (Or a solo non-BH Paladin in HC) in hell... it just doesn't happen. GL with that. :-)

    Ramses II
  • edited December 1969
    at the rate I'm going...

    I have 1 character to the start of act III. The other 2 are in act II. At the rate I'm going, I'll never finish all the acts. HC sounds interesting, and as it is I die very rarely - mostly when I'm getting bored and careless. But if you want to check back in a month or so, I may be ready for HC (:
    Just curious as to people's HC attitudes.

    -Wang, lvl 47 Druid
    Conner - who is just killing time playing Diablo while working on 'other' projects and waiting for Myth III (:


  • edited December 1969
    HC's all I play.

    After I went through the game that mandatory one time to be able to make a HC character, I've not played D2 any other way (except when dueling). You meet a lot of interesting people doing hardcore. As your character levels there are fewer people to play with due to deaths. You actually start to become kinda close w/the people in your party and really feel the loss when they die, and excited when you run into a recognizable name in later levels that you played with early on ("Hey! You're still alive!"). At level 47 there's probably only 5-10 people to play with. I've got a Necro around that level and I stopped playing 'cause the only other people online to play with in hell/hell were level 80 and up PK's.

    I don't have the expansion pack though and I probably won't be getting it unless it goes on sale somewhere so cheap I can't pass it up.
  • edited December 1969
    Details?
    After I went through the game that mandatory one time to be able
    to make a HC character, I've not played D2 any other way (except
    when dueling).
    What are the details about Hardcore? Is it just no dying? If so, why did you have to go through it once to make one? Sounds like fun...



    charon.gif
  • edited December 1969
    Briefly

    You have to beat the game once on normal to make your first Hardcore character.

    If you die in Hardcore you are dead, no way back for that character. Your corpse can be looted and the items/gold on it gotten back or gotten by your party mates, but (IIRC) most HC players look on this as a dodge. Anything in your stash is lost forever.

    Before you start your first HC Realms character realize that this character *will die* eventually if you actually play him and enjoy him. :-)

    Ramses II
  • edited December 1969
    Hard Core makes your nipples twitch.

    JUST not dying?

    Yes. *JUST* not dying. :)

    one false move. one silly mistake. one cocky move. one lag burst.

    You and your character are GONE. NO TRACE left. You sit there in total dis-belief and anguish as your alter-ego vanishes with every item he had aquired.

    Once you feel THAT pain, you treat your _next_ HC character even better.

    As Wang says... there is no bigger "RUSH" than HC D2... and the EXP. pack only makes it BETTER!

    I will be playing HC with the exp.pack very soon. But, for now, I am playing regular characters and seeing what the upper level skills do without the heavy HC penalty for mistakes.

    You must kill Diablo ONCE... with any character before you can start making HC characters... I believe that is a GOOD thing.

    N8

    ^A^ Apoc Home Page
  • edited December 1969
    Re: Details?

    Ramses pretty well describes it. I only play one character at a time and don't loot. Well, I allow others to loot me sometimes if I like them because I let them have my stuff when I'm dead.

    Once you die you can either keep that character (not playable though, just as a dead character) or you can delete it so you can use the name again and start over at level one.

    There are a lot of players at around levels 1-20 then it starts thinning out, after 35 you start to see the same faces over and over and the games become more scarce. When I reached 42 I was the only game online with maybe 5 other players hopping in and out.

    It's very intense. You have a moment of lazyness or over confidence and Bam!, you're dead.

  • edited December 1969
    Re: HC's all I play.

    Hails!

    Hey croaker, I would reconsider your views on the expansion pack. I think I can say that for myself, and probably everybody else in Clan plaid who has gotten it, it really has made the game better.
    Just my 2 cents.

    Spit
    I don't have the expansion pack though and I probably won't be
    getting it unless it goes on sale somewhere so cheap I can't
    pass it up.

    ispiton.jpg
  • edited December 1969
    Re: Details?
    Once you die you can either keep that character (not playable
    though, just as a dead character) or you can delete it so you
    can use the name again and start over at level one.
    So when this happens, do you have to run the new char through non-HC again? Or can you re-use the slot for another HC character?


    charon.gif
  • edited December 1969
    I'll never get there...

    Geeze. I have an unofficial policy of playing a new game solo through to the end before going online. At the rate I'm crawling through D2exp, I'll prolly never finish solo. If I did finish, I'd have to spend the time going through it one more time, solo, but this time online. THEN I'd be able to START Hell/Hardcore/whatever the frick it is. Level 47? Heh, yeah right.

    Why am I so pokey? I just get bored with it after about 1/2 hour. And then when I quit and go back the next night or so, all the freaking bosses I've beat and the levels I've cleared are fully populated again. WTF is with that? Ugh. Clear em out _again_. Yawn. Maybe HardCore/Hell?whatever it is is fun, but I can't spend the months of redundant clicking labor to get there and find out.

    Sorry to be Mr. Glum, but it's the truth!

    --Black Cat #CP#V
    Does anyone else play hardcore? I'm lonely in my little world
    and sometime would enjoy the company :) I'd rather not play with
    random realms people as I play quite conservatively, as is a
    good attitude in HC, and I enjoy thoroughly exploring all the
    levels and not rushing through things.

    I realize that many people do not play it because of lag and
    hardware issues, but to me it is very exciting gameplay and its
    how I split my time playing when I am not gaming with Nate and
    co. over voice chat.

    The best feeling I have ever had playing Diablo 2:
    Beating Diablo with my hardcore elemental druid. My heart never
    pounded so much in any other game. Beating Bhaal was rather nice
    also, but a bit easier.

    Just curious as to people's HC attitudes.

    -Wang, lvl 47 Druid

    blackcat.jpg
  • edited December 1969
    Your Policy Is STUPID!
    Geeze. I have an unofficial policy of playing a new game solo
    through to the end before going online.
    There is NO solo D2 worth playing. Period. Amen.

    Even if you do want to play it 'solo' first... do it 'solo' on a Realm Server so your character can eventually play with others online.

    N8


  • edited December 1969
    Another...

    Once you complete the normal game once... you can create "unlimited" normal or HC chars. Up to the limit of 8 per account, I believe.

    But you can have multiple 'accounts' with your one CD... so it is vertually limitless.

    N8
  • edited December 1969
    Re: HC's all I play.

    Let me know when you get the expansion, cheap or otherwise, certainly "group" HC sounds like quite a bit of fun.

    I would also add my recommendation to getting the expansion-even if it is a bit pricey, it makes the game quite a bit more enjoyable.

    -Wang
  • edited December 1969
    Ahem
    There is NO solo D2 worth playing. Period. Amen.

    Even if you do want to play it 'solo' first... do it 'solo' on a
    Realm Server so your character can eventually play with others
    online.

    N8
    I have to say I disagree with nate here. Solo Diablo IS fun, but like he said, I play it on the realms only just so I can mess around with a party when I want to. My HC Druid has been played solo every step of the way and it is a blast.

    Party Diablo can be an enjoyable experience, or it can be a disaster-it just depends on the style of game you like to play and who you hook up with. I like the rigours of HC, I like playing at a slower pace and thoroughly exploring all the areas I come to. I also enjoy playing voice chat with nate, his brother and a guy from our MW4 group, guys who also tend to play like I do. In fact I wish I had more time to play Diablo, then I would hook up with the other CP guys more. But when I need a break-I return to the serenity of soloing it through the ranks.
  • edited December 1969
    Ahem to your Ahem....

    Of course playing D2 by yourself is FUN. I do it all the time.

    MY POINT WAS.... Do not do it on "Solo". Do it on a Multiplayer Realm.

    SOLO = the "SinglePlayer" Button... Never click that. :)

    Phefttttt.... I guess that went over your head. :)

    I have never played the 'Single Player' mode of Diablo one, Diablo two, or Diablo:LOD.

    Never. And I have prolly played hundreds of hours of the various Diablos "solo".

    N8

  • edited December 1969
    What you're missing...
    Geeze. I have an unofficial policy of playing a new game solo
    through to the end before going online. At the rate I'm crawling
    through D2exp, I'll prolly never finish solo. If I did finish,
    I'd have to spend the time going through it one more time, solo,
    but this time online. THEN I'd be able to START
    Hell/Hardcore/whatever the frick it is. Level 47? Heh, yeah
    right.
    Actually you can start a Hardcore character (Any number of HC characters) after you beat the game once solo or online, it makes no difference.

    I have this policy, and I did this with DII and LoD (Although I did it online solo). The fact is the storyline, the 'plot', of DII is perfectly pathetic and predictable and if you just solo the game it's barely 12-15 hours of gaming I'd say. It certainly didn't take me a week to finish the original, and the XP doesn't add more than a few hours to that. This seriously disappoints players who expected a *Role Playing* game, this is not an RPG, and the little it takes from the RPG market is badly done.

    Instead this is an action game. You have a character, an avatar, and you kill things with him. Sometimes the things you kill drop stuff, sometimes it's really cool stuff. Stuff is good. On normal and solo most of the stuff is really shitty, and all the enemies are really easy; Blizzard designed normal badly for solo'rs IMHO. However, if you play with other people the critters get harder to kill. If you party with other people the stuff gets better. If you play with other people in hell difficulty the game is sincerely hard for the whole party and the stuff can be truly great and awe inspiring.

    Is it a sort of pyramid scheme to eke a certain number of hours out of players before they get to the good part of the game? That's one interpretation, and normal and nightmare should obviously be much more difficult, but fundamentally it's a fun and challenging game that you can play with your friends to kill things and collect stuff. There's a set investment of time to get to the challenge and the good stuff, but since the game has virtually zero learning curve (Point, click, kill) this takes it's place. Call it the 'aquisition' curve; you have to aquire enough levels and goodies to get to the meat of the game.

    This looks like it would take forever. When you first start playing the game you can't even imagine hell difficulty, but you learn very quickly and after you learn, your advancement strategy develops. There were people who got characters to the max possible level, 99, two weeks after the game was released. If you start a character with some friends and play together a few hours a week you can easily get to 40 in a few days and start on NM, which increases the challenge.

    Compared to the Myth model it's a very different sort of satisfaction, there is no 'winning' even when you kill Baal on Hell. That's an accomplishment, but there are plenty of things left to do and lots of gameplay left to enjoy. Instead there are thousands of small 'wins' when you kill a monster and get an item, bigger wins when your party kills a difficult monster and gets a good drop, and such forth. When a good, diverse party takes on (For example) the Hell Council or the Hell Ancients and wins...

    It can't compare to the short term gratification of beating another human team in a highly competitive gain, but it *does* give you the feeling of having built something that lasts.
    Why am I so pokey? I just get bored with it after about 1/2
    hour. And then when I quit and go back the next night or so, all
    the freaking bosses I've beat and the levels I've cleared are
    fully populated again. WTF is with that? Ugh. Clear em out
    _again_. Yawn. Maybe HardCore/Hell?whatever it is is fun, but I
    can't spend the months of redundant clicking labor to get there
    and find out.
    Waypoints. These are designed in stopping points, play from one and when you're ready to quit find the nearest one and stop there. If you look at the list of the ones you don't have it shows the area the next one appears in, so you can know when to begin hunting for it. Then resume from that WP and repeat. This is not an RPG, it's an action game, if it didn't repopulate there would be no replay value (Trust me :-). I click less in DII than I do in Myth, and considering how long I ranked MMD BC in Myth I have to say the 'curve' to enjoyment was lower for DII as well.
    Sorry to be Mr. Glum, but it's the truth!
    Some people don't enjoy these kinds of games. I even keep a book at the computer (Something I do anyway) to take a break with every so often in long sessions. In my brief post-good-connection period I've found that I still don't enjoy FPS games (Not that I tried with any modern ones ;-), it's just too numbingly repetitive and I never developed the skills to play them. P'raps the situation is similar?
    --Black Cat #CP#V
    Ramses II
  • edited December 1969
    I do the same thing.

    I always like to finish a game before going online with it. But Nate does make a good point in regards to this particular game. You can still play DiabloII solo and finish the game all while logged into a server. It's just like playing the game offline except your character is useable in multiplayer when you're done or at anytime along the way.

    As you say, the game is very repetetive. That's why I wasn't thinking of getting the expansion pack.

    -Croaker#CP#V-
  • edited December 1969
    Re: Hardcore Diablo

    For some reason, I recently reinstalled Diablo and the expansion, and there is no choice to make a harcore character anywhere.

    I reinstalled, and still, there is no section in character creation to make a hardcore character. Any clue?
    Does anyone else play hardcore? I'm lonely in my little world
    and sometime would enjoy the company :) I'd rather not play with
    random realms people as I play quite conservatively, as is a
    good attitude in HC, and I enjoy thoroughly exploring all the
    levels and not rushing through things.

    I realize that many people do not play it because of lag and
    hardware issues, but to me it is very exciting gameplay and its
    how I split my time playing when I am not gaming with Nate and
    co. over voice chat.

    The best feeling I have ever had playing Diablo 2:
    Beating Diablo with my hardcore elemental druid. My heart never
    pounded so much in any other game. Beating Bhaal was rather nice
    also, but a bit easier.

    Just curious as to people's HC attitudes.

    -Wang, lvl 47 Druid
  • edited December 1969
    As below:

    You have to beat the game once on normal to make your first Hardcore character.

    I'd say, hmm, a Barb with double swing is probably the fastest through normal. A martial assassin wouldn't be bad either, or a zeal Paladin.

    RII
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