Sorry to hear that Thor

ive lost my barb due to the cause of a lag too. Just like my amazon before.
Im pretty sure you will get your gear back, if you ask game for it and there was a serverdown (or at least something that isnt your fault). Though im pretty sure there will be no characters revived...
The race to 99 on hc isnt possible with the server atm. It used to be that laggy in the past, when theres too much players playing and that is surely a thing at the moment. Ive never seen so much ppl play.

In the last ladder lag wasnt a problem at all. If you noticed it and left the game it disconnected you fast enough. It dont seem to work in this season for some reason. Maybe there have been changes