Diablo III re-defines 'Hardcore'

Even regardless of the difficulty, Diablo II was a hard game. Prior to boosting and team levelling, playing that game was, well, hell. But Diablo III is going to be even harder.

A new development for the upcoming game is a twist on the traditional Diablo Hardcore mode.

In the previous game, Hardcore mode gave your character one life, and if you died that was it – but if you had brought a friend with you, your equipment could be salvaged and re-equipped to a new character. Not anymore.

Though this move has met mixed reactions, it does add a pretty exciting layer of "OH MY GOD I’M ABOUT TO LOSE ALL MY STUFF THAT TOOK ME 25 HOURS TO COLLECT.” Either that or it will just be annoying.

In a discussion board on the Battle.net forums, Blizzard’s Micah Whipple (aka Bashiok) says the development team will see how players react to this change after release and then consider their options.

"Honestly if your character dropping all of your items when you die in Hardcore is something a lot of people want, we’d very seriously consider it…for us, items being removed from the game when a Hardcore character dies is kind of exciting.”

Diablo III is set for a worldwide release on May 15 for PC and Mac.