Hardcore World of Warcraft is a dangerous game, with characters only having 1 life while adventuring in Azeroth. This causes most players to play extra safe, taking little to no risks as they level up and acquire gear. But for some players, the baseline challenge of Hardcore WoW is simply not enough. These players thirst for an additional challenge, yearning to take Hardcore to the next level. Luckily, a newly discovered addon offers players a much more difficult Hardcore experience with “Ultra Hardcore”.
This addon is not new by any means, as Reddit user u/Bonnies-Dad has posts dating back up to 8 months on the addon’s continual development. It has, however, gained popularity recently, as World of Warcraft streamer “Xaryu” has been diving headfirst into this new experimental Hardcore mode.
What is Ultra Hardcore?
Ultra Hardcore is an addon that adds several custom features to the game, drastically increasing the dangers of Hardcore WoW. These changes vary from no longer being able to see your enemy’s level or health, not being able to see your own health, and having your vision be greatly reduced as your health drops. This addon offers several options that players can enable (or disable), with these being the major changes that increase the game’s difficulty:
- Tunnel Vision: The visible area of your screen reduces as your HP drops.
- Hidden Player Frame: You will not know exactly how much HP you have left.
- Hidden Target Frame: You don’t know what level or how much HP the enemy has, making every fight a risk.
- Hidden Party Health: Gauge your allies’ health with a healing icon above their heads that turns redder as their HP drops.
- Dazed Effect: Adds a “Blur” effect when you are the victim of a dazed effect.
- Rested Action Bars: Action bars are only visible in rested zones. You’d better prepare!
- Crit Effect: When you are the victim of a critical hit, your camera veers off in a random direction.
The creator of the Ultra Hardcore addon, u/Bonnies-Dad, has also uploaded a video of the addon, showcasing many of these settings. Please note that the video is a few months old, as some of the addon features have been updated and improved since it was uploaded, and may appear differently in-game.
Ultra Hardcore Addon Settings
The Ultra Hardcore addon has premade difficulties, which enable and disable certain features depending on the setting chosen. These difficulty settings are “Lite”, “Recommended”, and “Experimental”, in order of increasing challenge. Don’t be fooled, however; even just the Lite mode offers a significant difficulty increase when compared to the base Hardcore game mode.
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| “Lite” | “Recommended” | “Experimental” |
Each setting may also be enabled or disabled individually, allowing players to choose exactly which settings they want to have activated.
Is Ultra Hardcore the Ultimate Challenge?
At the time of this post, the highest known player in Ultra Hardcore is level 23, with no one having yet reached level 60 while using the addon. Even some of the most experienced Hardcore WoW players are struggling with the new game mode, with several of the well-known WoW Classic Twitch streamers’ characters dying already.
Have you heard of the Ultra Hardcore addon before, or tried it out for yourself? Perhaps you’ve been watching your favorite streamer try it out? Does the additional challenge to WoWs’ Hardcore mode sound like something you’re interested in?
