Would you play Hardcore Ladder? LET'S KILL BOTS

Since participating site members consider in-game items as currency, there are now opportunities to explore the value of gold.

Indeed, seasonal timing drives the economy and some players strive in inclusive groups. Currently, this season's list of games has reached the critical point of "climb", whence elite players devote their time to maximum level. Often, most items in circulation are desperately cheap despite their extreme utility.

Normal is the most dangerous mode. The lack of movement and low constitution presents high risks, and, personally, low rewards. This can deter players from continuing Hardcore characters.

Nightmare is a dangerous mode. Yet, equipment and skills allow more room for errors. Still,

Terror Zones have introduced replayability in this mode and clearer paths to Hell.

Hell is...interesting. At least, it can, and should, be marveled.

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Key component to Hardcore is that Death, whether PvE or PvP, ends a character's run. While normal mode mainly consists of cooperating players, further difficulties can spur tension and camaraderie, but I digress.

So how would gold maintain value? (Please consider the current seasonal timing)
Let's think about this from a top-down difficulty perspective. Runes and (Perfect/) Gems are stable consumable currencies. Their value is standard across all difficulties. However, gold is much more important at early levels as players shop or gamble for items that can compete with items, whether rare or unique, they would be able to find at their current level.
For example, let's consider a level 85 nightmare player with 10 million gold (maximum). This player buys Cube Gems at 1M gold each from a level 45 nightmare player. The nightmare player can choose to shop or gamble. Now, let's consider another level 85 player to have a few nightmare uniques. Instead, the nightmare player can buy some nightmare uniques for gold.

But WHY would this not work in Softcore? A Hardcore Death cannot be taken lightly. Hostile threat can drive people who abuse bot or public competition out through sheer force. Your, and your comrades', PvP can control bot population and force players into private games to slow their experience rates to 99 (indirectly instilling prestige in ladder). Most importantly, the items lost are not kept in circulation and, ultimately, bolster the value of an identical item in circulation.

I like rust and ark. So, yes. Yes I would. And I would beat it wearing yellows and blues.

Also, the absence of bots is one of the reasons I appreciate being on Psn.