A good party is definitely a precondition of doing well on hell difficulty though!
Agreed. Currently going through Normal with my house-mates and we can already see how much more difficult it is than on our own. On harder difficulties I can see us really having to work together.
The first person to do it probably deserves a real life monetary prize just for being a boss at Diablo :-P
Haha. I'm hoping to get to Inferno with my hardcore character and then I'll probably start streaming when I do, just so the internet can share in my pain when I inevitably die xD Currently half way through Act 3 with him, only had a couple of close calls when my ping shot up.