In Diablo 4 you can play in HC mode. If you then die to monsters, your character is dead forever. But what if a HC character is defeated in PvP?
What is this mode? Many Diablo players prefer soft core mode for their characters. If you die, you can revive and continue without losing your progress. It’s different in hardcore mode. If you die, it means a “permadeath”, so the character is not resurrected.
So for many HC players this mode brings another thrill as you should play even more carefully. On Twitter, Blizzard now confirms another detail for this already crisp mode.
Permadeath also applies to PvP deaths in Diablo 4’s HC mode
Blizzard says: On Twitter, user rizarjay asks the Blizzard team, “Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but if you play hardcore in Diablo 4 and then die in PvP, does that mean permadeath or…?”
To which Adam “PezRadar” Fletcher, Diablo 4’s Global Community Development Director, replies succinctly: “Permadeath.”
Blizzard’s response creates a lot of conversation within the community. In the comments to the tweet, one user asks, “Can someone explain to me exactly what this means now? So if I have equipped and leveled my character for 2 weeks and die in PvP, my character is wiped? Or will I just get kicked out of the PvP arena?”. To which PezRadar explains that in hardcore mode it means that you would then have to create a new character.
Others write that they are really “scared” now. As a suggestion, player theonethief writes that there should be PvP zones in hardcore mode where you can die without losing your character. In addition to the permadeath zones.
What’s the “problem” with that? On Diablo’s Reddit, a player asks why hardcore PvP should be regulated differently than PezRadar’s answer. User Kaelran says:
Because permadeath in hardcore PvP means hardcore PvP doesn’t exist. The risk is many times greater than the rewards.
And that doesn’t even include things like hacking, poor balance, or stream sniping.
Path of Exile had LOTS of PvP glitches because some ability was overlooked in PvP specific balancing and it does way too much PvP damage that basically kills people instantly with no way to do anything about it. I expect a lot of that in a new game with very little testing in the PvP zone.
[…]
Also the PvP in Lost Ark was full of speedhackers. Losing your character to a hacker will be great. Oh no wait, people just won’t play PvP. So PvP is removed from hardcore again.
On the other hand, other players counter that the appeal of hardcore PvP is simply very great. Players love to take risks and put everything they have earned on one card, even in PvP. Other users put the theoretical possibility that there are hackers there at the back and advise waiting until this situation occurs at all, instead of being angry about it beforehand.
Blizzard Stresses Diablo 4 PvP Is “Not Designed To Be Fair”