Why don't more people play HC? [Archive] - Diablo 3 & Diablo 2 Forums

ReiperXHC

01-12-2006, 17:06

I'm so curious as to why more softcore players don't play hardcore. You know some of these guys have been playing for years. And even in this ladder season they have MORE than enough items to make numerous strong characters.

They can easily afford to lose some items if they die, and it's not like it would take them long to build another character. And in the end, that would only make them FAR better at the game.

I mean, come on. It's possible to build a character who can SOLO the the ubers! With equipment that's not even all that pricey!

I'm not trying to complain, I just think more people should do it. Minus the total bungholes who cheat and ruin the game.

If anybody disagrees feel free to post here. (Not that you wouldn't heh)

-Reip

(oh yeah forgot....even with all that equipment...they die very frequently anyways lol)

Hp_Sauce

01-12-2006, 17:25

People play this game for fun. It's not fun for some people to have to worry about dieing all the time, and worry about losing their gear. Some people just like to slaughter stuff, or don't care to plan their builds that carefully, or don't know enough to build a character to survive HC.

-hps

Freewynd

01-12-2006, 17:48

agreed, seems you can divide gamers up into several catagories.

whats appealing to one just isnt to another, and so on.
while i agree with the note...hcl is the only real way to play d2.
thats also one opnion.

but your right.. :wink3:

some good secrets and best left secrets.
-Freewynd

rev129

01-12-2006, 17:51

The reason is simple.......................

SCARED!!!!!!!

Full_Circle

01-12-2006, 18:38

SCARED!!!!!!!

It's a little more complicated than that, I think. I'd wager that most people who still play softcore have at least tried hardcore. They probably came in expecting it to be just like softcore where "they hardly ever die" and they got a rude awakening.

People who play hardcore with a softcore mentality die really fast... usually to other players. Then they go back to softcore.

Wardawn

01-12-2006, 19:03

It's a little more complicated than that, I think. I'd wager that most people who still play softcore have at least tried hardcore. They probably came in expecting it to be just like softcore where "they hardly ever die" and they got a rude awakening.

People who play hardcore with a softcore mentality die really fast... usually to other players. Then they go back to softcore.

I reckon that most people also get mighty frustrated when they get tppk'ed. Which also tends HC players running back to normal when they get too fed up with the scams and tricks. tis' a shame a few idiots ruin it for the majority.

PhatTrumpet

01-12-2006, 19:22

Not to mention that Hardcore PvP in general is, let's face it, pretty much a joke. Trebby's thread is a step back in the right direction, but in general duel games are full of hackers, dupers and lamers, and most duels you do manage to get just end up being lop-sided juv/flux fests.

On softcore you can perfect your gear and build over time while dueling the best duelers as many times as you want with no consequence. You don't need to build a one-hit KO char to win duels, so many more builds are viable. There are people on non-ladder that do nothing but duel.

Most people who enjoy PvP actually prefer this rinse-and-repeat option to the high risk Hardcore PvP, and I can't say I blame them. If I got completely sick of PvM I'd probably make a few softcore duelers.

Dimmu Borgir

01-12-2006, 19:34

I was reluctant to go Hardcore until only recently, so I can help answer this.

In my case, it's because the builds available to you are so much more limited. You can't afford to plan a Barbarian caster-killer expecting to get a Nigma. You can't afford to plan a Whirlwind Sin. Or an Auradin. Or a Sorceress Shockbear. Because quite simply, you will not make it that far in Hardcore.

You're left with skill-dependent builds rather than equipment-dependent builds. Which just goes to show you 80% of the Softcore community can't even play the game, so they rely on equipment and rediculous tweaking to help out their inability to strategize (i.e. Auradin).

Basically, people want to be Uber. It's hard to pull off in Hardcore.

In my case it wasn't 'cause I couldn't play, though, it was because I wanted to try out a lot of those equip-dependent builds. Like a Holy Fire Enchantress and so on. Now that my fun is over with, I'm left wanting to just play the game.

Plus, Hardcore always has that gloomy shadow of PK looming over your head. Act cautiously. Trust no-one. Quite frankly that "fear" excites me, and really refreshes my formerly stale Diablo experience.

cynicalcat1

01-12-2006, 20:00

well in my case i came to hardcore for the challenge.i had gotten bored on softcore and switched over, been having a ball ever since.i died alot in the beginning, then changed my tactics and now have a 91 necro summoner going.

as stated above most people just do not want the challenge any more.

Dimmu Borgir

01-12-2006, 20:05

WrongdayJ

01-12-2006, 20:56

I think I stated this in another thread, but I'll repeat here because it's appropriate.

I usually test my builds in SC because (like HP_Sauce said) you don't have to be as worried about gear and dying.

But once I think I have something- it goes HC.

To me at least- it's not a real build until it's mortal.

Wardawn

01-12-2006, 21:19

Something else I found interesting was when I started HC, by sheer dumb luck I got Demonhorn's Edge Destroyer Helm. If I found this in softcore I'd gather more barb stuff and try to make a viable build. However in Hardcore, I want to trade it because I have my doubts about me making it long enough to use it without being killed. Also if anyone wants to trade *wink* *wink*

princesspk

01-12-2006, 21:22

I switched over to HC when I got bored of softcore because I thought it sucked to be able to kill anything in the game so easily. I've played mostly amazons, and this was back in 1,09. Yes, you all remember the multi-shot and guided arrow madness of those days. So it got boring, and I switched over to HC. I got a few characters up and running but then quit playing the game for about a month. When I came back someone had somehow gotten into my account and simply killed all my characters, and that made me stop playing. Now I'm just coming back to the game and I knew I wanted to play HC from the beginning. Got an old friend to take a SC char quickly to norm baal and started right away... Hardcore is just a lot more fun to me. You actually need to play wise and not just jump right into the pack like you would do in softcore. If I ever play again in SC I know I'll keep the HC mentality, cause it's just so much more thrilling.

Hp_Sauce

01-12-2006, 21:39

Thats the thing that bugs me, hundreds of people are complaining about how "easy" the World Event and DClone are, and about how they want an actual challenge... yet they never stop to think about Hardcore, or just don't bother with it when they do.

They want challenge, but they can't handle it when its actually there.

FACT: People like to whine or complain. It makes them feel special and gets them attention. What they are whining about is of little concern to them. Point out that what they are whining about is silly and easily solved and they will either ignore you, or move on to complain about something else (probably how annoying you are after you've left the room/game).

They aren't whining because they actually want a challenge, they are whining because they want to whine and that's a convenient thing for them to whine about.

anyone want any cheese? Cause there's a lot of "whine's" in those 2 paragraphs!

-hps

Full_Circle

01-12-2006, 22:26

The reasons I moved to hardcore no longer really apply. At the time (around 1.05), softcore was filled with scammers and idiots, while hardcore was a haven of mature, friendly players. The PKs in those days were similar to what you find on this forum today. It was that combined with the sense of challenge that drew me to hardcore.

Today, though... Hardcore is the new softcore. Hardcore items are more valueable than softcore, so the dupers & botters that ruined softcore have moved to hardcore. As HP said in another thread, this game is not dead... but it is definitely dying.

ReiperXHC

02-12-2006, 01:13

Wow! I figured this would generate a lot of feedback. Thanks for your intrest in my thread, guys.

Diablo isn't dying. I don't know if I can post the names of other websites, but if you go into the Game (Frequently Asked Questins) <lol vauge enoguh?> PC section, look at the top 10 games.

Doesn't really seem like the game is dying to me when I do that. Anyways. I think I'm happy starting out here on HC. Got a 43 Summon necro to mainly just survive and play and maybe find some items on the way.

Just started a Frost Zealot today, (level 5 heh) A build I've never done before, but hell...it looks like fun. As for the less viable builds, I think I'll will probably attempt those someday too. Losing gear isn't all that scary to me. I usually just end up giving stuff away to my friends.

That's another thing. I've already made a couple of pretty cool friends...hope to make some more in the near future, but as for now, I have people to talk to and transfer in games with, and to level and quest with if I get bored.

Thanks for the input guys.

WrongdayJ

02-12-2006, 01:29

I'm sure you'll enjoy playing the Frosty. . .It's one of my favorite builds.

Mine's Lv58 now and really a load of fun to play.

Good thread BTW. . .:thumbsup:

ArchsageVal

02-12-2006, 03:01

Got the dhcc started to promote HC play, reason why I put time into it :girly:

Distorted Humor

04-12-2006, 03:39

The reason why I don't play HC....

Have yet to beat the game on my account :)

bogie

04-12-2006, 04:23

Reason I never play hardcore........
I like extreme offensive gaming and I like to constantly play a char till i perfect them, something I cant do if its 1KO = done.

SmittySixTen

04-12-2006, 09:08

If it's alright, I'd like to take the discussion back a little bit to where it was mentioned that different people play the game for different reasons.

I've personally never tried HC, even though I've had D2 since the day it was released. I'm just not a fan of the one-shot deal.

Basically, I always have gotten a kick out of trying new builds, especially those that no one really uses. I made melee sorcs before you could slap on a couple of Dreams and be good to go, Warcry barbs before you could get your BO to level 50+, and elemental druids back when Hurricane was a complete joke. I even made a Hammerdin back in 1.08 for the heck of it. Yes, a Hammerdin in 1.08.

All of the builds were incredibly fun, but they were fun for me because of the shock you'd see expressed by people when using an almost unheard of build.

One specific story I remember is with an old melee sorc of mine. Basically, I was sitting there hacking away when another sorc suddenly stopped by me. You cold almost hear the person controlling her going, "wtf?!" as he or she watched me swinging away, randomly casting a firewall to speed up the process. She moved towards the pack I was fighting, backed off a bit, then tried to melee as well. She died almost instantly. Upon reviving she exclaimed, "SORC HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!".

That, right there, is where I get my excitement from. Knowing that I've made the gears turn in someone else's head by displaying a different way of playing is a rush for me. I spent a good hour talking with that person about how you could make a melee sorc. The fact is that HC doesn't offer as great of a chance to do so. As someone said, your builds are much more limited. Sure, I could make a melee sorc in HC, but I don't think I'd get the same feeling from HC.

I DON'T play HC because I put a lot of thought into each character I make (not saying HC players don't, I know that almost all of you likely put more thought into yours than I put into mine), and I like to make those characters in an environment where dying is ok. I like playing the flawed characters, the ones that darn well might die. The bottom line for me is that I don't enjoy being ultra uber, but I also don't enjoy losing a character that I've put a lot of time into. It's just not my type of play.

AnubisXy

04-12-2006, 09:16

I'm just addicted to the adrenaline rush you get when your character almost dies and pulls through. Also the anger at losing a character, HC is an emotional roller coaster and that's why it's so much more fun than SC (to me).

SC is fun sometimes, I like to laugh at the people dying in act1 and the suicide rush tactics on normal Diablo. =D

HCKull

04-12-2006, 09:26

People dont play HC because they put a lot of effort into developing a char and dont want to lose it all to a lag, the windows key, automatic pop-ups, or a momentary lapse of concentration/judgement.

BongoFury

04-12-2006, 17:29

I like extreme offensive gaming ...HC teaches you the difference between aggressive and reckless, you can absolutely play aggressively in HC (I do it all the time), you cannot play recklessly in HC. So by 'extreme offensive gaming' you actually mean you like to play recklessly.

BongoFury

04-12-2006, 17:38

Basically, I always have gotten a kick out of trying new builds, especially those that no one really uses.You can do all those things in HC too. I've played melee Sorcs without the uber runewords, I've played a maulazon, a Lord of Mages, a trielemental Sorc, a fire trapper, a bowler, a charger, a fire zealot, a few shock bears, a sorc who only used L1 and 6 skills, a character who started Hell at L42 and made Guardian, a totally naked character and I've finished normal difficulty at L9 (all quests and WP's). So unusual or underpowered builds are not mutually exclusive to SC.

The whole point of playing characters such as these is being unique and/or more being challenging. Doing so in HC just makes them even more of this. So I disagree with your point completely, HC/SC has nothing to do with unusual/underpowered builds.

BongoFury

04-12-2006, 17:42

People dont play HC because they put a lot of effort into developing a char and dont want to lose it ...I think this is the essence of it. Some people like to HAVE a character, some like to PLAY a character. With SC, you can have your character regardless of how you play or what you do. With HC, playing your character is a lot more fun and exciting if you could lose it at any moment. I think HC/SC is a matter of why you play the game and how you derive enjoyment from it.

ReiperXHC

05-12-2006, 16:37

Okay. I've been thinking it over after reading all of these posts.

I remember back to when I used to play Softcore all the time. Back in 1.09 and about 3 months in 1.11. Then I took a break for a long while. Now I'm back playing HC.

In 1.09 I always wanted to play HC but none of my friends (in real life, who also played D2 with me) would do it. Just the other day one of them said they would "never" play hardcore. But come to think of it, the game we were in he died like 6 times lol. So he likes to play softcore because he wouldn't get far in hardcore, and I don't think he'd be agile enough to survive HC play.

Some people like to build their characters to very high levels with all the nicest gear you can get. Harder to do on HC especially if you don't party up with friends a lot so you can get your corpse looted if you get killed.

Some people also only want to play casually and not worry about losing what little work they put into the game just for dying.

Speaking of dying...I just lost my first HC character on the realms. LivinNotForLong died level 43. And I couldn't be happier. I learned a few things that are VERY VERY beneficial....

1.) Keep my rejuvs in the 1 and 2 slot where I can reach them faster...not the 2 and 3 slot. lol

2.) If there's not enough room in my inventory to pick up a nice item near the monsters before someone else does, forget about it and don't try to open a buncha' screens trying to get it.

3.) Damn, charms must have hella' mad value in HC since you can't get them back when you die. ;-) Heh. Love that one.

Again...thanks all for reading my posts. And Thank you WrongDayJ for pointing out my thread being good.

-Reip

McCain123

07-12-2006, 11:39

I play both SC and HC and I play them for different reasons:

SC is for fun playing. You can play drunk, you can play careless, you can try out the strangest builds, because death has no consequence. Whenever I want to learn something about the game and do experiments or if I just want to play for fun, I´ll do it on SC.

HC is for perfectionism. One stupid move, one nasty combination of monsters, one time underestimating the danger of something can get you killed. Whenever I have designed builds, that I would classify as extremly tough, then I will try them out on HC.

Both environments have some disadvantages however:

SC
- heavy duping
- a lot of morons

HC
- TPPK
- small community

Hp_Sauce

07-12-2006, 12:50

HC
- TPPK
- small community
- heavy duping

I fixed that last one for you.

-hps

McCain123

07-12-2006, 13:03

On Europe duping is at least up to now not a big issue in HC. On SC however, everybody and his dog has Enigmas, BOTDs, Infinities, Forties and so on.

PhatTrumpet

07-12-2006, 14:52

On Europe duping is at least up to now not a big issue in HC. On SC however, everybody and his dog has Enigmas, BOTDs, Infinities, Forties and so on.
That doesn't necessarily mean there's significantly more duping. Nobody loses gear when they die on SC, so there's obviously going to be more godly gear around.

McCain123

07-12-2006, 17:33

From what I see in the trading section HRs seem to be common offers on HLEast, in Europe I haven´t seen HR offers so far. I won´t exclude the possibility of duping in Europe, it just seems to be less, because of the small community. So you either have to go with less player or more dupes, not the easiest choice I´d say.

LuckyDwarf

07-12-2006, 21:23

McCain123,

I would opt for more people, as you and your friends can always choose to avoid dupes, unless you invest a lot of time into trading.

I started hardcore over a half a decade ago, when I got fed up with the ease of Diablo II. I had the mindset to conquer, and Diablo II, and a lot of games that were crafted from then up to now, have been on a steady decrease of difficulty. Ultima Online is a good example of this. A long time ago there was one realm that you played on, called Felucca. You could get attacked anywhere, but if you got attacked in town you could call the guards if you were not grey or red, meaning you haven't attacked anyone else or had a certain amount of kills yourself. So basically, if you PvMed you had to deal with PvP. Then Trammel was invented, which was a carbon copy of Felucca, but did not allow PvP. Guess what happened to Fel? It is empty, except for reds, as they cannot go to Trammel. Good PvP has been, and will continue to be, destroyed as games become more safe for the PvMer.

That being said, I traveled to hardcore, as Diablo II Softcore had gone.. well, soft on me. When I came over suddenly realized I didn't know how to play at all. I died left and right, making guardian after several weeks and a dozen new characters, but with each death I actually learned how to play the game.

My point is that Blizzard did us a favor in creating hardcore, as each new game that comes out drifts away from challenge, and into the willing embrace of, what we call in Ultima Online, bank sitting Trammies. And, while loyalty is not something you deposit in a safe, Blizzard has my money for this.

Lucky

ReiperXHC

10-12-2006, 13:51

I think HC is a tribute to a particular game I have in mind. IN this particular game there is no muling, and if you die, you have to start at the VERY beginning. There is TONS and TONS of stuff you can do in this game, and you are only allowed to have 1 character at a time, unless you make new folders and what not. It is the richest game I've ever laid eyes on, and Diablo 2 doesn't even come close.

In this game there isn't a HC mode. The WHOLE GAME ITSELF is hardcore, you have no choice. The game will most likely fit entirely on a single 4 1/2 inch floppy, and is completely and totally free to anybody who wants to play it.

The game I'm referring to?

NETHACK!!! of course ;-)

Mecal

10-12-2006, 18:47

I remember when i joined, it was because i got tired of SC.
I had a lvl 91 Orb/Firewall sorc w/Tals and everything, it was pretty boring.

So i was like "hmm, ill try out HC"
never went back :)

then i got my friend to join. we made an untwinked game, just the two of us. An Assasin (him), and Bear Druid (me).

We got all the way to Nightmare Tristram, until he died :(
but then my character went along to be my highest lvl, an 83.
then i stopped playing for a while, expired, and now im back - with a lvl 5 Bear Druid. lol

Millennium Falcon

10-12-2006, 22:49

Hmmm :scratch:

I think it might be the very fact that out of three cow games, two held TPPK'ers. This was on NORMAL.

I went to collect armors and such to sell to get some money and I was on four games total, but only entered cow lvl three times. Two times someone died to TPPK. The fourth I abandoned alltogether because I felt something was fishy, fishy like Neo seeing the black cat in matrix.

Good examples are. Lvl 78 sorc creates a normal game, makes the portal, then starts to say stuff like "It's safe, come." "Follow me" "Come with me" and so on...

I stand on the camp while a lvl 1 barb goes through the portal, sorc screams "LOL lvl 1 nuub", barb exits game. Hmmm... I wonder what went on? :scratch:

Personally, I'll never -ever- join another pub game unless there really is need, and even then I'll avoid everyone who can hostile me. And if you absolutely need to play pub, never ever go through a cow portal or a TP you didn't make. Period. If you do that you might as well delete your character beforehand.

I also think someone should update the HC faq and on the first line put a clear warning that public HC is complete useless and 2/3 players are TPPK'ers. The only game running on NM for instance, contains probably nothing more than PK's.

Mecal

11-12-2006, 00:06

I also think someone should update the HC faq and on the first line put a clear warning that public HC is complete useless and 2/3 players are TPPK'ers. The only game running on NM for instance, contains probably nothing more than PK's.

see, so what we need is a sort of collapse on itself.
Eventually all the TPPK'ers will kill themselves, and it'll be safe again :jig: :fortuneteller: :idea:

Deci

11-12-2006, 00:19

I have been playing HC for past two days, I have paladin at act 2 past radament, lvl 18 summoner necro in act 2 and lvl 10 druid (in act 4) that I used only for getting waypoints, cube, few gems and few items from shop.. from what I have seen so far doesn't include any tppk'ers even though I know there are some. Just few "duelers" at lvl 45+ who hostiled my either lvl 10 druid or lvl 15 necro (earlier today) who have weird views about fair duel.. We all know to lvl 9 it's all safe to play in public, but after that it's a hell trying to survive with team where for example sorc is lvl45+. However twice I was in full game, I and 7 others where team was fully out of players lvl 10-20, not too high chance of getting pk'ed I'd say.. sure some could be twinked to max but not those times. So if you want to play public there are people who also want this so lvl restrictions are best bet?

Millennium Falcon

11-12-2006, 00:57

Yes perhaps I was a little too convicting in my post, but you will see what I mean when you get to Nightmare. I seriously urge you Deci :laugh: to stop pub games the very instant you go to NM. The lvl restriction thingy is a good point, but any sorc above lvl 40 (or even lower) is a potential TPPK.

Besides, if you play pub, you're almost forced to play alone. You might as well start HC in SP since there you won't have lag or PK. What I mean with this is that no matter how sure you are about inviting someone in your party, it's 100% fact that the guy you just hired will invite that nasty PK without a second thought.

All it takes really for the PK is to see where you are and if you're not watching map 24/7 he will be on you before you can say :censored: and then you're already dead. I too played normal without any problems of PK or TPPK with my paladin, but once you get to nightmare (I'm on Europe), there will be only one or two games up. Guess where the TPPK's are? :rolleyes:

At the time I got to NM there was only ONE NM game on the europe, and it took me a long five minutes to get whacked. :flip:

Or it might be that I suck.... that too :p

Edit: Actually now that I think of it, having one character killed installed some kinda survival instinct in me. I now look towards pub HC games in a totally different manner. It's almost tempting to start a pub HC char and even attract those TPPK's hehe... it gives me this great rush to move in pub games with my pally, as I tend to consider everyone hostile. I'm always watching my back and it's great fun to know you're in constant danger =)

Deci

11-12-2006, 01:16

Haven't been in NM yet but planning to get there one day.. maybe I'll take a week before I take my summoner there.. :P

Also the lag has been issue for past days.. was in SC pretty often but in HC it hasn't been that common so far. I do have SP HC characters (necro, sorc) where the no lag is certainly a nice thing, playing with p8 thanks to that.

In pub games.. if I see my team being full of low lvls (1-20) I still keep my eyes open for the nice red skull on the corner incase someone decides to leave and let pk inside but the gaming usually goes pretty smoothly. Mostly I try to play with a friend of mine who started HC with me (plus irl friend joining HC soon as I get his first SC mf blizz sorc to nm), both joined KTA for some monday action and playing outside KTA games so far everyday (2 days). Hopefully continuing on two players.. even though would continue even if alone, that shouldn't happen seeing there are atleast few Europe HC players who just want the clean untwinked fair co-op gaming too.

Luckymofo

11-12-2006, 09:35

Some people play softcore to practice builds and stuff, can't do that in hc.

Also, nobody, no matter how skilled, can ever beat lag, even on the smoothest of days...

LordPaul

22-12-2006, 01:44

Well. thats so true. Lag rulez us all....
I got into the HC world not long ago just to try it out and now It's just too much more fun than Sc. But as most people said, I think it's all about playstyle and how you feel about risk: You can feel frustrated and "restricted" to certain builds and tactics or you can enjoy the thrill of it.

After all Diablo is a bit like real life. If we where immortal... just think about it. Like SC you'd love the start of it, but in time you'd just get sick and probably end up choping your own head off.

Worst from HC imo: You can't play in a "relaxed" way. If you want to live more than a day you have to keep your eyes wide open. The thrill is fun, but sometimes it's just too annoying having to read the description of most bosses, or being compelled to exit the game after a 3 second lag just in case. Not to mention tppk, high level guys sayin "Want me to help you?" and so on and so forth.

btw Reiper... what time are you on? I haven't seen you online lately.

Entaro

22-12-2006, 10:19

I play hardcore because this way I never get too attached to the game. Sooner or later I'll probably die. And when I loose a char I've put some decent hours into, I get turned off of the game for awhile. It keeps the game fun by forcing me on and off of it. Unlike Softcore where I'd just keep getting leeter and leeter until I finally just quit.

Skhytte

30-12-2006, 23:00

I for one think i'll never transfer completely over to hc, and i think atm it is impossible due to the low number of players. So u ask why there are so few ppl? Well i think for some people like me it's simply because public hc games after normal are completely impossible, atleast in Europe. I've never found anything past act 1 in nm games, not including trading and baalruns. So that only leaves playing with a pal or single play, and neither of these add to the public games.

And the one thing i've never understood is why play hc only? I've never seen any point in it, as i myself don't find constant fear of tppk fun at all. Yes, the constant fear of getting killed is fun, but having to be on your toes all the time and the second some1 scary enters u gotta quickly exit doesn't quite qualify for my definition of fun. And probably the worst thing for me is the goddamn lag fear, as sometimes it is simply impossible to watch out for it, i've had a few near death experiences due to sudden lag, and this was in normal. Had i played nm i would've been killed.

The loss of a char when dying or the item loss has never concerned me much, as i don't have any good equipment or chars, but i've never understood the fun in losing all your stuff and a carefully built char.

Wow, that was an incomprehensible post, but i hope u can understad what i meant :)

d00m2k

31-12-2006, 00:20

In all my years of HC, I have never died to lag. Blizzard has done an excellent job with lag in that when you lag, usually the mobs do to. By saving and exiting, you're usually fine, maybe hit a couple times.

Distorted Humor

31-12-2006, 02:07

I have been having fun with hardcore - funny thing is that I play more oddball builds in hardcore then I do in SC, Also in SC I will mule and trade stuff around - HC i play just with the stuff that I find - and perhaps stuff that I can trade from that guy or gal if they find a good rune.

Lot of my buddies who play don't like HC since they loose all they worked on - I look on it as a new chance to try another oddball build and I dont look at any built any equity in the Guy I am playing - just play for the here and now...

HelzCaretaker

31-12-2006, 17:22

Here's a little story, friend needed nm baals, so I make a game, bo baals 1. Enter a tppk, I hostile her with my barb. She asks to duel gets 4 x friends using obvious triggs, bugged charms/duped gear. I laugh call them pathetic, they call me a pussy, I leave do private 3 person baal games instead of public. 73 tppk sorc enters a nm game and can't handle herself. Sad really.

Blackllotus

01-01-2007, 18:00

I got turned off of HC becuase of PKing. I understand that PKing is part of the game, but, for those of you who play Battlefield 2, PKing is a part of the game just like grenade launchers (aka: n00b t00bers) were part of the game. Its obnoxious to have a questing game busted up because some PKer decides to join and have some "fun", and, yes, mere obnoxiousness has been enough to keep me away from HC for over half a year since I tried it last. Now I'm interested again and I'll find out soon enough whether or not I can stand it.

Kretschmer

02-01-2007, 18:33

Deci

03-01-2007, 08:31

[I'm Europe HC player so I what I write about doesn't include status of East/West even if the situation might be close to same with Europe.]

It's true that in HC there are alot less good games due to known lag and tppk'ers which leads those who really want to play HC play it in private games with friends or clan instead thinking of them as a reason why not to play HC and move back to SC (since we all start from being softies). However everyone seem to express this with extremely negative attitude, I have played HC now for about 3 weeks or so after year break from D2lod, from what I have seen so far is that you can find games for normal difficulty pretty easily without attracting med-high lvl tppk'ers, every now and then those little lvl 9/12 sacadins/chargeadins might show up in sewer game though. Nevertheless nightmare games are more of a problem, it's nearly impossible to see a decent nightmare game without a lvl 80 sorceress named 'OopsIdidItAgain' sitting in rogue camp or harrogath wanting to help..

Then I see how most people complain about low number of playable games (especially act 2 and 4) when they can actually DO something about it. Character difference setting when _you_ create a game. I took two chars (on first week I played) through nightmare by creating my own games (even during normal, not including baalruns) and using character difference level of something reasonable, for me act 1 game could join anyone who's under lvl 20, act 2 anyone under 25, act 3 under 30, act 4 under 40 and act 5 I won't mention since I didn't spend much of time there in normal difficulty. For nightmare again I remember my first necro was around 46 when he started journey in nightmare act 1 when the difference lvl was set to 7 and yes I know, someone simple like bone necro could be a possible tppk'er already around lvl 36 so anyone joining is a potential tppk'er. However there are still many players (non-pk'ers) who also want to get their chars through nightmare so in the end we're all in the same boat, all of us don't have high lvl friends to help us with (g)rushing or leveling in tombs, cows, baalruns and I think there are more decent players than those miserable tppk'ers who have nothing to do (hear me out you failure children of tppk programs).

All in all I agree about lag, it rocks us all, we can't change it due to dupers unless Blizzard decided to do something about them instead of idling in their chairs and watching how much they get off WoW payments. I might have been just lucky to know/feel when to move back to town 5 mins just before the wave of lag that will cause something called death. One example of this being act 2 game where strong team of lvl 20's was in durance 3 taking out councils near the entrance, there I noticed something wasn't right when I cast a spell, monster lost hp but I didn't lose mana and my mana pool wasn't that high during that time, so I cast tp, went back to town to talk with few friends who were online and msn while that, then I go back in game hoping lag has changed (ping meter showed me 31-69 ping all time which is normal). However right after I finished refilling my pots huge spam of brown text came on.. http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q218/Deciv/lag-casualties.jpg

There.. enough for one post I think, oh and rip to the dead people.
PS. My english isn't perfect so bare with me, hopefully most understand what I try to babble.

oOmpie

03-01-2007, 09:38

I just recently switched as well and so far I am enjoying the hardcore experience a lot. The thrill is superb, although losing a high lvl char will probably piss me off immensely :badteeth:

I used to play solo in SC as well, since I can mostly just play for short periods of time, so that is not really a problem for me.

Tbh, the only partied games I will undertake would be with people from the forum or something like that. I am not gonna be PKed and tbh the whole PKing might as well be patched out of the game. Create separate duelling games or something and abandon hostiling completely from games that do not specifically activate the duelling mode or something.

Imho...

Morathi

03-01-2007, 11:36

because of the challange the excitment and also more respect for people who makes guardian.

Lateral

03-01-2007, 16:26

Despite all the lamers, griefers, TPPK'ers and whatnot, I would still choose HC over SC any friggin day.

(As I'm typing this some PK'er kills someone in my baal run..)

Curious, I thought they put in a hostility timer some time ago..?

Hector

19-01-2007, 09:29

I used to really enjoy hardcore; playing it exclusively. The community is more skilled, the play style rewards good planning and execution, and there's certainly an adrenaline rush when you barely survive a tricky situation. Used to be 20 on the sorceress ladder and 60 overall in the original 1.10 ladder.

Hardcore these days isn't an option with the rampant PKing. Any public game is fraught by griefers. You used to have to watch out for hydra sorceresses and way points/town entrances . Now, with the advents of PK-assist programs, any sorceress/druid/paladin/amazon/necromancer could be your undoing, without you having any input into your odds of survival. PKing was not a problem when I was younger with tons of free time, but I'm too busy these days to lose an accomplished character to a kid with a script. It's no fun! If blizzard implemented any number of simple fixes to the current TPPK issue, I'd be back in a heartbeat. Until then, it's either private HC (rare) or public SC.

Your words express my thoughts with perfection. *claps*

I also have quit HC because being careful these days just isn't enough; any ranged character can destroy you efforts during a TPPK.

And quite honestly, I find it pretty weird to visit a realm to play into private solo games or with a friend or two only. I want online interaction, I want full games, or else I'd just play Single Player where not even lag I'd have to fear. Even though we face many idiots at the realms, there are still nice people and amusing moments, so I'll take the SC action over the HC private games anytime, seeing as I'm not giving away all time I spent on a character to a kid who's using a hack that is beyond my playing skills.