Well, I just joined, spent some time going through all the registering steps and went to the hardcore world because I wanted a bit of excitement. To begin I ran a small distance away and found a cave. After slowly killing trees with my bare fists I spent a good few minutes gathering some coal I found near the surface before I ventured deeper.
Next, I began to venture down, gathering some iron but mostly coal. I went quite deep and began lighting the place up, when suddenly I was killed in two seconds by a "helper"... Not only could he fly, which I'm guessing he was allowed to, but he claimed he "saw me though the world" due to lag... Now, that's just bulls***, or he needs to get better internet. Either way, hardcore sucks, and if you give flying to VIPs/Helpers then it's way overbalanced and messed up. Needless to say, I'm not going to be trying hardcore again (or at least on this server).
-iCamasHD