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I lost my first character in Diablo 3's Hardcore mode - where death is permanent - to a puddle of acid excreted by an angry tree. The character was a level 17 wizard. I just wasn't watching where I was standing. That was a back before the console version, before the Reaper of Souls expansion - when the game was less fun, less pliable, less eager to please.My second Hardcore character was kicked to death by a pack of pink unicorns. (The only way to go.) This was a while later, playing Reaper of Souls on PS4. It was a much more painful loss: a level 55 demon hunter, some 12 hours in. I was a victim of my own hubris. I was doing well, chewing through monsters, so I had decided to kick the difficulty level up to Master to keep me on my toes (and for faster levelling). I had detoured from the game's fifth and final act into Whimsydale, a kiddy wonderland of rainbows, smiling clouds and murderous teddy bears - a joke aimed at the players who had complained the game was too colourful and cheerful compared to its oppressively Gothic predecessors. Hence the unicorns. It was, at least, an amusingly ironic and surreal death, but it was still gutting. I had to put the game down for a couple of months after that.
Twice bitten, thrice shy. I started playing again after a recent patch and made an assault on Hardcore that I was determined to see me through to the level cap of 70. I rolled a Crusader, an armoured class with some good healing and defensive options that's at its best with shield in hand. I vowed never to go beyond Expert difficulty, no matter how easy I was finding it, no matter how laden my Crusader with legendary items and stat-boosting gems.
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