Everything plays just like normal except not being able to resurrect.So, to my great surprise, I'm loving Hard Core mode. Who knew?
I haven't really played it before, so if I die, the character is gone.
Is the gear she's wearing gone?
Are her paragon levels gone?
Is her bank gone?
What's fun is that certain items that I would never have used before are now fantastic such as the Aquila Cuirass I just got. I will never be below full mana with a dart build and with it my toughness is up to 24M
Any items on that character/in that character's inventory/on that character's followers is lost upon death. Stash/paragon/gold/blood shards/merchants/etc all remain.
It's quite a thrill to start genuinely sweating when you hear your character yell for healing. Yes, quite a thrill.
I generally try very hard not to die even in softcore mode, so hardcore doesn't feel all that different, except for the knowledge that I won't be able to respawn.
--Patrick