[Highlander]

Hi ZiggyD,

Checked out your videos, interesting that you plan to choose a Demon Hunter for Diablo III.

One thing that sprung to mind was how slow you were going (not trying to give you grief) at those early stages. I'm sure if you had a Barbarian with you, you'd be whizzing through.

I think that serves as a good example of why I really do think party play is the key to effective Hardcore play. Sure, it can all be done solo, but if you want to go the path of least resistance, a well designed party will outperform every time.

Hopefully I'll get some time to play with you in-game on HC, although Softcore will be my main game mode as that's where all my other friends will be.

As for the auction house, I know Blizzard said they were reconsidering it, but at last official word I didn't think there was going to be a RMAH for Hardcore, just the gold auction house.

Naturally, through sheer availability, items will be less affordable in Hardcore. Less gold will be available, so prices may not be literally higher, so it's important to draw that distinction. Since gold can be found anywhere with sufficient time as opposed to max gear which can best be found in highly dangerous areas (eg: Anywhere in Inferno), I think those items will still be worth more (in relative terms at least).

Pushing this up even further still, is the ease at which I expect you will be able to farm gold as opposed to items, since gold drops pretty much everywhere and you can control the environment with much more ease.

Interesting food for thought all round.

[ZiggyD]

Originally Posted by Highlander

Hi ZiggyD,

Checked out your videos, interesting that you plan to choose a Demon Hunter for Diablo III.

One thing that sprung to mind was how slow you were going (not trying to give you grief) at those early stages. I'm sure if you had a Barbarian with you, you'd be whizzing through.

I think that serves as a good example of why I really do think party play is the key to effective Hardcore play. Sure, it can all be done solo, but if you want to go the path of least resistance, a well designed party will outperform every time.

Hopefully I'll get some time to play with you in-game on HC, although Softcore will be my main game mode as that's where all my other friends will be.

As for the auction house, I know Blizzard said they were reconsidering it, but at last official word I didn't think there was going to be a RMAH for Hardcore, just the gold auction house.

Naturally, through sheer availability, items will be less affordable in Hardcore. Less gold will be available, so prices may not be literally higher, so it's important to draw that distinction. Since gold can be found anywhere with sufficient time as opposed to max gear which can best be found in highly dangerous areas (eg: Anywhere in Inferno), I think those items will still be worth more (in relative terms at least).

Pushing this up even further still, is the ease at which I expect you will be able to farm gold as opposed to items, since gold drops pretty much everywhere and you can control the environment with much more ease.

Interesting food for thought all round.

The Bowazon is quite slow, a hard hitting melee unit could breeze through most of the early stuff much more quickly. But in my eyes survivability is in the Bowazon's favor. From what I have seen of the D3 beta the Demon Hunter(ess) has that going for them too. I love kiting and ranged attacks and I like the DH's area of effect snares and chain shots. I think this combination is going to make for an excellent HC character for long term survival, and, for above all else, fun.

Edit: I should mention that I am also considering a Monk as I really enjoy the shockwave rapid punching style. Is almost a ranged class. Seems like a fairly survivable class too. Still not 100%

I think I will be doing a let's play HC series for YT but I haven't decided whether I should solo the entire thing, team the entire thing, or a mixture of both. There are definitely advantages to partying HC mode, both for the videos and for survivability and if I was going to do hardcore with anyone it would be you. You seem like the safest player I know when it comes to hardcore. Perhaps interested in doing a series with me?

Great thoughts on the auction house - some items are likely to be worth more than the gold cap in hardcore just because they are necessary to surviving the hardest levels. Gold only has limited usefulness when it comes to survival. It's like having $1million in cash vs a rifle and ammo in a zombie apocalypse.

Thanks Highlander