Multiplayer patches have more fixes for the memory leaks, not sure how it would work out if your getting them in singleplayer. multiplayer has people in the stations, and thats mostly where the leaks come from.
Normal Difficulty is kind of simple. Elite mode is alot more fun. Its alot harder, so levels take longer. You also have a better chance at finding passageways, hellgates, and rare-unique monters and items.
If you like the gameplay, and feel like subscribing, stonehenge and patch 1.0 *any day now* will have more open maps, outdoors in fields and such. New monsters, new tilesets, new items and weapons. If your not a subscriber, well.. Lvl 50 is still there to get, and nightmare mode is fun if you want an even crazier challenge. Nightmare elite would be sweet, i havnt gotten there yet because im extra careful.
I play hardcore elite. I rushed through the game, ignored the storyline mostly, and unlocked elite and hardcore. When you get to the "hell" levels it gets pretty neat. Its no doom 3 hell, but the tileset is cool, you get ambushed and fights come from multiple levels.
I cant see playing it singleplayer though. Its nice to have someone to talk to, or play with, while running shulgoth 100 times:D
oh, and this game is what has been keeping me off of discovery for the past week or so. That, and the whenever i go to play the server has been down. I think thats been fixed so ill be back in my ship sometime soon:D
*Wilson shows off his ham sandwich* - Armory.003
*mark placed on Unit-sk855's forehead* - Head hitting the desk as of reading the above