Yes, i have played Hardcore in diablo 2ex and it does suck. I tried it cause my friend wanted to to so we did. We where about to fight andy when my friend lagged and died. So he remade and i kept going. I got to level 25-30, i cant remember which, and had to go afk for like 5 mins. I stayed in the sewer of act2 so i could get some exp like and idiot and when i got back i was dead. I was like wtf who killed me? i asked a player in game and come to find out it was a guy i had been partying with for a couple of hours and we got along great.
And yes i do hate hardcore. I dont want to have to restart everytime some a~hole wants an easy kill or i lag or get called away for an instant.
Sure hardcore can be fun staying an instant away from death... for the first go around. But for me after i lose a character that i worked hard on and started to like i say forget it.