Diablo – What are the differences between red and blue containers

Much like World of Warcraft's launcher, "Playable" means the launcher has downloaded sufficient game code and initial media for you to launch the game and start playing it.

Unlike "available" where you run into "loading walls" where the game client struggles to keep up with downloading media necessary for you to play, "playable" means it has downloaded enough data for you to play without hitting any "loading walls".

Setup (Red): Core game content is being prepared. You cannot enter the game at this time.

Available (Yellow): Major game content is not completely applied. You can play, but your game experience will not be ideal.

Playable (Green): Final game content is almost complete. You may experience a few issues with playing at this stage.

The "Playable" includes high resolution textures and other low priority flair:

Q. How is data assigned to each stage?

A. Data is assigned to each stage based on the relative need for that data. Red is required to get into the game, Yellow is data needed for baseline gameplay, and Green is for variants of base game data (higher-resolution graphics, alternate sounds, other flavor data). [1]

Therefore, "optimal" means it has completed downloading all available content and will not impact your play experience with background downloads.

(Information is from World of Warcraft's launcher, which uses the same technology)

Since it seems that this question hasn't received a comprehensive answer, here's my best attempt at a full list of all of the differences between Hardcore and Normal (Softcore) modes:

In Hardcore, you:

• Will lose the ability to play your character permanently upon your character's death. You will also have the option to archive a profile of your dead character (playtime, level, appearance, cause of death) in your "Hall of Fallen Heroes" for posterity.

• Will lose all of your character's equipped items, all items in your character's inventory, and all items equipped on your Followers when your character dies. Any items in your Stash, as well as your Gold and Blacksmith/Jeweler status, are retained (and are shared between all of your present and future Hardcore characters).

• Have a separate stash, gold pool, and Blacksmith/Jeweler than your Normal mode characters. There is a dedicated Hardcore-only Auction House, and Blizzard has stated that there will not be a Real-Money Hardcore Auction House. Hardcore mode is an entirely separate ecosystem than Normal mode.

• Cannot trade items back and forth between Hardcore and Normal characters.

• Cannot join a game with non-Hardcore characters (and they cannot join yours).

• Can earn special Achievements for killing bosses and reaching level thresholds on a Hardcore character. Many of these Achievements have special rewards, such as banner designs.

Additionally:

• There are no innate differences in the strength of a Hardcore character versus a Normal character.

• So far, there is no evidence of any difference in the strength of monsters, quality of loot drops, or anything else that affects gameplay aside from the fact that your character cannot be resurrected upon death.