Diablo 4 players crash out of hardcore race thanks to glitch

Diablo 4 pre-order rewards
(Image credit: Blizzard)

A Diablo 4 player was 18 hours into their Hardcore Sorceress run when a glitch prevented them from moving or activating their life-saving skills, dashing their hopes of being one of the first 1000 Diablo 4 players to hit the level 100 cap on hardcore mode.

Everything had been proceeding without incident until they tried to use their ultimate skill, the animation for which seemingly froze their character, preventing them from progressing and essentially killing their run. 

"Dying to a bug after 18 hours of play is brutal," Max "Maximum" Smith tweeted afterwards (thanks, PC Gamer). 

"Pretty sure I can re-level and still get top 1,000, but don't really wanna put the time in just for something like this to happen again."

Maximum was trying to be among the first players to hit the level cap on hardcore difficulty. The race - which invites players to "cheat death" and fight to be one of the first 1000 players to hit the level 100 cap - kicked off on June 1. The first 1000 players to reach the cap will have their username "immortalized on a statue of Lilith". 

And it seems they're not the only one who has had issues, too. Pro WoW player Imexile had a different issue when their Flame Shield wouldn't negate the effects of poison DoT, forcing them to quit, log back in, and see their character had died on the character creation screen. 

"I'm very confused at what just happened," he said. "I don't even know how to… What I was supposed to out-play?"

As PCG reports, both players are back in the race, though, and grinding through in a fresh attempt to still make it as a finalist. 

We gave Diablo 4 a notable 5 out of 5 stars in the 12DOVE Diablo 4 review, calling it "a diabolical assault on the senses". 

"The ARPG has come a long way since Diablo 2 set the bar for the genre, and since Diablo 3 fractured the playerbase, and there's some out there who will undoubtedly feel as if Diablo 4 hasn't gone far enough in its expansion – that its class-balance and endgame could be more distinct, particularly given the strength of contenders like Grim Dawn, Pillars of Exile, and Torchlight 2," Josh wrote. "But the truth is, there's simply nothing quite as entertaining as Diablo 4 when it's firing on all cylinders."

Diablo 4 will be available to all players on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S on June 6.

Here are some other games like Diablo 4.

Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, 12DOVE

Vikki Blake is 12DOVE's Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.