Twitch streamer Shroud has experienced a worst-case scenario in Diablo 4, losing his level 100 Hardcore Druid to server lag. Diablo 4 is a challenging, time-consuming game by design. The campaign should leave most players around level 50, after which climbing to level 100 involves a mix of increasingly difficult Nightmare Dungeons, World Bosses, Helltide incursions, and Tree of Whispers quests. Imagine doing all that without dying, which is exactly what Shroud did. Then it all disappeared through no seeming fault of his own.
Hardcore mode is the Diablo franchise's greatest challenge. In Diablo 4's Hardcore mode, if a character dies, then they are gone forever. There's no respawning, characters aren't converted to "Softcore" mode, all equipment is lost, and the only progression retained is tied to Altars of Lilith and Renown. Losing a character can be traumatizing, especially after all the time required to level them up and optimize their gear. Yet Diablo players love the mode, specifically because of the challenge involved.
Dying in Diablo does happen, though. It's part of the game. And Diablo 4 players that lose their characters to difficult encounters may be hurt by the situation, but they're also often understanding. That's not the case for Shroud, however. The Twitch streamer did everything right but was punished nonetheless. Shroud's character died without allowing the Twitch streamer a chance to save them. The level 100 Druid died because Shroud was disconnected from Diablo 4's servers.
During a recent stream on Twitch, Shroud was playing through one of Diablo 4's Nightmare Dungeons. This was content that Shroud was more than comfortable with, and while still dangerous, was not something he'd be in any significant danger in so long as he maintained control. All of a sudden, the enemies around Shroud stopped attacking him. He was unable to interact with the world. "I'm lagged out. I'm lagged out. I'm lagged out," Shroud repeated, knowing this was a worst-case scenario. He then had to watch as his Diablo 4 client "caught up" with the lagging server, a seconds-long clip of enemies killing his Druid permanently.
To add insult to injury, after seeing his Druid turn into a ghost, the Diablo 4 client sent a message reading, "Network Disconnect - The game connection has been lost: your client has been disconnected from the server." Even if Shroud hadn't just watched his Druid die, it would automatically have been killed by the disconnect. Diablo 4 doesn't allow Hardcore characters to disconnect, as that would allow players to save their characters in dire situations.
While it's not impossible for the issue to have been due to Shroud's internet connection, it's likely safe to assume the death can be attributed to ongoing Diablo 4 launch issues. Just in the past several days, Blizzard has performed multiple instances of server maintenance. That includes live maintenance, during which Blizzard keeps the game up but warns players that they may experience lag or disconnects while playing. It's not the best environment to play Diablo 4 Hardcore characters at the moment. Unfortunately, Shroud learned that firsthand.
Diablo 4 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.