Diablo II RIP
In addition to the acts, there are three sequential difficulty
levels in Diablo II: Normal, Nightmare, and Hell; completing the game (four Acts in
the original or five Acts in the expansion) on a difficulty setting will
open up the next level. On higher difficulties, monsters are stronger
and are resistant to an element, experience is penalized on dying, and
the player's resistances are handicapped. A character retains all
abilities and items between difficulties, and may return to a lower
difficulty at any time.
Players can also create a hardcore character. In softcore,
the player can resurrect their character if killed and resume playing,
while a hardcore character has only one life. If killed, the character
is permanently dead and unplayable, and all items and equipment on that
character will be lost unless another friendly character has the "loot"
icon checked.