Why are u guys playin SC or HC? Immersion of Permadeath!

Tears85

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Jul 2, 2019
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Hi guys,

I´m curious for the reasons why you are playing SC or HC? I know this topic is often very emotional, but since this forum is different to twitch or other platforms I figured we might talk about this topic! Ofc hopes are that one or two guys will give hardcore a shot.

I personally know that there are better SC (and HC ofc) players than myself I am a player, but I only enjoy HC, what means that I have to pick my games as I´m playin every game I play with permadeath. This means for example PoE is a dead game for me, as I´m not skilled enough to play HC there. For me permadeath adds a meaning to a game. If one is playin without permadeath a game is like a movie, as your "watching" your unstopable progress, but with permadeath u "become" that Hero. Afaik this is called immersion! Sometimes I am jelly about guys who enjoy SC! Ofc it occured that I enjoyed a game and quit because I didn´t wanna start all over....especially bad when there is storry one can´t skip (Metro:Exodus) or a lot of storry (Pillars of Enternity). I am personally quite emotional about this topic, and hope the day I will have to stop playing HC will not occure before I´m too old to play at all!

One added bonus of Singleplayer is that u can´t die due to DC!

I personally know peeps that were totally into SC and than started enjoying HC. So maybe if YOU ever thought about playin HC mb now is the time to start?

Ofc I also would like your to hear you opinions!

KInd regards
Daniel
 
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For me HC is what it means... hard core. For me it goes along heavy investment in game, building knowledge before facing the situation, trying to anticipate.

Mostly for me, it is also related to specific tournaments, that mostly also bring the single pass limitation. It's not like it isn't fun, but to succeed you either have great experience or can afford to anticipate/build knowledge around your character/build, therefore mostly act instead of react.

Given that point of view (which is an absolute mine, not a given truth), and having been a Zerg player in SC2, it seems quite logical that SC has my preference. Well, it is also related to life situation, i can't play as much (hopefully ? ^^) as i would like, so i'm not deeply ready to lose everything on a lazy/tired session in a grinding game.

Anyway! Good night? :p
 
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I do SC. D2 is mostly a collection game for me, I like building up and hoarding and having lots of good things and then using them for smashing. Losing my good things means I have to farm LK more and then I have to gouge out my eyeballs with a rusty melon scooper.
 
I gave HC a shot with 2 Necromancers(Boners) and 1 Trapassasin.

I just wanted to finish the game one time in HC, but 1 Necro and the assa died due to me being to uncautious.

Since I play earlier versions my main chars will always be SC, because in those patches a mightenchanted mob means death, even puppies (without exploding them).

I enjoy collecting rare items and I definitely didn't enjoy my characters dieing.

It's painful enough to lose experience if highlevel enough, so I don't feel like I'm watching a movie of an unstoppable hero.

But I will try a Barbarian in HC maybe sometime, with NR and BO it might be possible to beat baal hell.

But how do you get past the ancients? They prove a challenge even for my twinked chars at times.
 
Good night? :p

Why..... just got hot farming Pits!

Thx for answers guys!

"
It's painful enough to lose experience if highlevel enough, so I don't feel like I'm watching a movie of an unstoppable hero.
"

That´s just my opinion! Ofc when I play say Pillars and have to start all over again I wish I could play without permadeath watching the movie! ^^
 
I play both but my main interest for the moment is HC for one I haven't ever made a guardian and two I get to level and collect all the items all over again. Also I feel the challenge of Diablo 2 especially when death is permanent and I don't have a stash of godly gear to get me through the day. It takes strategy and carefulness that I can just ignore in SC.
 
Simple reasons here, invested too much in SC, not much time to play nowadays and too bored to stat all over again in HC.
 
HC requires lots of concentration.

SC... Well, I normally play the game with Netflix or Twitch in the background. Or is it watching Netflix while MF/LK semi-consciously.🤷‍♂️
 
I remember watching a friend in what must have been 2001 before LoD came out play a HC Frenzy Barb through the Durance of Hate in either NM or Hell, probably Hell. Super scary and left a deep impression on me.
At that time I only had 1 character in SC that I don't think had made it to Hell yet.
Really got into the game when LoD came out and started playing it on Battle.net shortly after. Had like 2 characters in SC and then transitioned to HC. Always played SC trying to avoid death at all cost to begin with, so moving to HC was not much of a change. Also, the HC community I became a part of was really awesome. Really elevated the experience. Haven't played on Battle.net in 10+ years though.

When I started playing again a couple of years ago - this time in SP - I never actually thought about it and just defaulted to HC again. D2 is just HC for me, I don't think about it. Not when playing either. Haven't played a single SC character since I moved to HC a few months after LoD was released.
 
I play HC because I am a glutton for punishment and I'm bad at games in general. Probably same reason I enjoy rogue-like games.
 
SC only pretty much. I play to wind down in the evening, not to sit on edge. Family is not very helpful if I am trying to concentrate on not getting killed.

Also PvP not really a good idea with HC characters.
 
The reason I don't play HC any longer is that it brings out the worst in me: I start being over cautious, second guess myself and stop trusting my instincts. Because of this, I seem to more near death experiences in the few HC characters that I have played than I do in my average SC character.
 
The reason I don't play HC any longer is that it brings out the worst in me: I start being over cautious, second guess myself and stop trusting my instincts. Because of this, I seem to more near death experiences in the few HC characters that I have played than I do in my average SC character.

You have only seen more near death experiences in HC characters than in SC characters because you remember them more :ROFLMAO: .

I've played tons of softcore, but this was back when I played on battle.net, and didn't have much care for all the mechanics and character building of it all. I had at least 40 mats/pats over the years there, but when I switched over to single player I moved to the hardcore scene since there was a HC player base here and eventually made about 20 guardians. I have exactly 1 SC character in single player and that was with the courtesy of the PVP group and a generous giveaway they did. I wouldn't go back to SC except for the ability to PVP or to play with other forum members that only play SC. Others may say that you are on edge, but its more like its a rush when you take a chunk of damage and survive, and furiously smash that big purple potion button as many times as possible.
 
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I want to try out hc for sure. Just have so many sc projects to finish first :D. I'm sure whether I like it will depend on how bad I am at it, but I can theoretically stomach the idea of losing infinity and enigma, and even somewhat a griffons or something. A fathom or dweb would be pretty heartbreaking, but the worse thing to me is losing great charms or rare rings. Those just aren't very replaceable. We'll see how much I like it when I get around to it someday :).
 
What skill is the safest for a HC untwinked Barbar?

Concentrate, Warcry, or Whirlwind.

With RWM in 1.14d LoD.

The attacking builds obv get 1 point in Berserk.

Whirlwind seems to be a terrible choice without dropluck, since you need a fast weapon and manaleech.

Concentrate seems decent, altho you have only 3 free respecs, so I guess you go Macemastery at first with scepters and then hope to find Steeldriver/Bonesnap?

Frenzy is imo out of question, since you need to find 2 weapons or?
 
I wouldn´t count out Zerker with points into warcry? But I´m not even close to be a barb player!

Nice to see u thinking about playin HC! And conserning how to kill ancients.....for me a Char is "done" after Anya hell!

But yeah I assume u can start mace mastery + Conc/Zerk path until guys will tell ya what to do!

About respecs: Afaik u might wanna baal anyways later on, so mb endless respecs?
 
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What skill is the safest for a HC untwinked Barbar?

Concentrate, Warcry, or Whirlwind.

With RWM in 1.14d LoD.

The attacking builds obv get 1 point in Berserk.

Whirlwind seems to be a terrible choice without dropluck, since you need a fast weapon and manaleech.

Concentrate seems decent, altho you have only 3 free respecs, so I guess you go Macemastery at first with scepters and then hope to find Steeldriver/Bonesnap?

Frenzy is imo out of question, since you need to find 2 weapons or?

Warcry will be your easiest and safest. Caster builds are much easier to get the gear to make them half viable. You will have to relinquish yourself to your merc doing a bulk of the killing though, but most everything is stun locked making it very safe.

Concentrate is obviously safe due to the huge defense buff, but is slow as dirt and weapon dependent. I struggled to progress my concentrate barb because its just...dull.

WW is also weapon dependent, but you have to remember, you can't use a potion mid whirl, so if you take a couple of real hard hits (or a bunch of lightning enchant bolts to the face) during your spin you'll just die at the end.

Frenzy is (double) weapon dependent but probably faster than concentrate, and safer than WW.

Berserk I actually like in hardcore, but probably wouldn't choose it for an untwinked run. Its relatively safe when you throw on a storm sheild with the 35% damage reduction and go with max block. This relies on a lucky drop for that SS though, or possibly a shaft stop with a high block shield because I probably wouldn't do it without DR%

If you are using RWM you have to remember that there are other options outside of Botd and grief. For my frenzy barb, I wasn't untwinked, but I played around with both a pair of oath's and an oath/lawbringer setup and both probably would have carried me through the game without much issue and they have at most a bunch of mid level runes so it wouldn't be a huge grind to get them in LK.

In terms of mana problems, if all else fails throw insight on your merc until you find a decent mana leach item.

Remember howl is your friend if you get swarmed (its not just for efficient magic finding), and battle cry is your friend for bosses since it reduces their damage by 25% even at level 1.

Edit: Early game Steel is super useful and super cheap to make, midish game if you come across an io you can make a black for crushing blow to use against bosses.
 
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