The problem has less to do with exiting before being in town. The problem of lost packets can occur anywhere in combat and can bring death before even attempting to reach town.
Playing HC in original d2 have been working flawlessly for 20 years because client is disconnected by server after 8 seconds.
It is currently 40 seconds which is nonsense in a game where characters die within 5 seconds max, and we can tele/tp/exit instantly.
People who lost a character because of disconnection should ask to revert the 40 to 8 seconds. Make Hardcore mode a better place please. There is no logical explanation why this has been changed.