Perils of Always-Online Highlighted After Diablo 4 Player’s Level 100 Hardcore Character Dies After a Disconnect

The first Diablo 4 player to hit Level 100 in Hardcore mode was left speechless after his character was lost forever following a disconnect.

Souaïb ‘carn’ Hanaf was livestreaming Diablo 4 when the game disconnected. After logging back in, carn discovered his max level Hardcore Barbarian was gone, leaving him no option but to create another character and start all over again.

Diablo 4’s Hardcore mode features permadeath, which means if a character dies it’s gone for good.

Clearly upset and confused, carn wonders whether he has suffered a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. He then spends some time searching Diablo 4’s menus for a trace of his character, to no avail.

“This is the one thing when I was playing the beta that I was praising Blizzard for,” carn says.

“Like, holy shit, a DC-proof game. But no. I guess not.”

Then, after an extended period of silence: “I don’t know who I’m even supposed to talk to about this.”

It’s a heartbreaking moment given the time and effort carn put into the character, which is set to be immortalised on Blizzard’s Lilith statue as part of the race to max level Hardcore challenge.

And the scene is a stark reminder of the perils of always-online video games. The clip of carn’s disconnect is sure to fuel complaints about Blizzard’s decision to make Diablo 4 unplayable offline.

It remains to be seen whether Blizzard is able to recover carn’s character or, even if it is able to, whether it would be willing to.

“I’m not expecting it,” carn says of the potential for Blizzard to restore his character.

Despite this disconnect, Diablo 4 has enjoyed a relatively smooth launch, and is a smash hit.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Send news tips to [email protected].