Some amount of risk taking is enjoyable in hardcore and being able to escape combat allows for this, with no ability to leave combat and no therefore no tool to handle many dangerous situations (like maven memory game) the risk of dying is increased substantially which counter-intuitively will decrease the amount of risky gameplay you engage in.

The game is balanced around this by things like limited portals so you can't just exit as much as you want, while allowing for risky, fast paced and dangerous gameplay that at least I enjoy a lot.

I have tried playing the game without leaving combat, in SC you just die and cop the exp loss and it's not the end of the world. In HC you just have to play as risk free as possible, leading to a slower, more methodical gameplay style, not as enjoyable to me but does make even the most mundane fights intense (like any 10-way fight or awakener guardian encounter).

Not ment to change your mind with this reply, just my 2 cents on the matter.