Anyone who played multiplayer experienced this, you create or join a game with a theme in hell (mostly), like “act 1 q1-6” or “baalrun-014” only to find out 6 out of 8 players are actually doing something else like the 85 areas, bosses and quest uniques (travi) and superchests regardless of if they are actually screwing up an eventual forming party who would appreciate to play the game together without having to constantly create a new game.
Now do not get me wrong, I am myself guilty of being such selfish parasite so this is not a complaint, merely an observation. It is clear the game mechanics are promoting this behaviour and in some ways it make the game more hellish. And while i am not gonna talk about the benefits for higher levels of making the game harder for usually weakers parties/players who usually are not well geared enough themselves to clear whatever content they need to go through, so the game might last a bit longer if there are enough of the weaker players willing to cope with that so they accomplish the goal stated in the name of the game. Of course sometimes the game gets completely highjacked by “split farmers” as the few “normal players” leave and because they all compete for the same areas, the game ends quick. Other times, if they are fewer “split farmers” (i.e. 3-4) if the other players end up frustrated by the increased difficulty, they will quit the game and everyone looses. Obviously, the lucky ones are when there is only 1-2 who are doing their thing and the party is strong enough and willing to go on anyway as then everyone get something (extra xp, extra loot for both “groups”).
Clearly though, it often ends up being very ridiculous when this rare balance is not achieved, considering that this means everyone spends more time looking and joining for games and hope to find one that suit their needs than actually playing the game. I get it that to some it is part of the diablo2 experience or “fun”. But is it really fun, or is it really efficient?
While it is possible to set the difficulty in single player using the command “/players x”, would it be not an improvement for everyone to actually have this command working also in multiplayer (regardless of the actual non-virtual players actually in game)? Would that not better the experience of every single type of player even if I also understand this would clearly affect the economy, as instead of fighting against the RNG and developing skills to find the right games to parasite (with that primitive lobby interface which I also think would greatly benefit a rework… but that is another topic).
Anyway, while I clearly imagine there will be arguments going both the hardcore “it is perfect as it is, don’t even dare suggesting changing anything” and players who are slightly more open to at least questioning and discussing this, I wished I could have made a poll out of it or something. Anyway, that is obviously not a new suggestion, so at the very least, someone can highlight to me what are the arguments why this - as it would be an option you might or might not use - is not happening (community rejects it? technically impossible… lol? etc.)
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i completely agree this is a very big issue… in the last 10 baalruns i created i had 2-4 people going with me max and the rest spamming their MF runs somewhere else. i get it… u need the player count increase ur effectiveness. but seriously… F this. we already cant play the game 90% of the time and when we finally are able to do so, the game is filled with parasites. i honestly havent a more disappointing gaming experience since Anthem.
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Need kick function. Easy solution.
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discussed many times here, need just players X function
Another solution is that the loot is improved only if players are around similar to exp then sniping will loose its attractiveness
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It could be nice to keep everything as is, but make a loot increase only if players are in same location and same party.
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What are you complaining about, lol? If 1-2 ppl do not go to throne room, it means you get more experience from baalrun. So, it makes baalruns even more profitable.
If you cannot handle that +15% monster hp (yes, relative difference between 7ppl and 8ppl is very low), it means there are too many leechers in throne room and you should look for some good mates to do that in effective team.
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First I explicitely stated that “I was not complaining” but it seems you’re having problems reading don’t you?
Secondly, I do not do friends, so the “solution” you are suggesting is worthless to me (why even say it if you consider there is no issue btw?). Thirdly, there are other things you seems to be impervious to, in the understanding department if your reading abilities are not the problem. I again explicitely said this affects weak characters - ehm, you know like new players, who might also not have friends yet.
Anyway your reply, beside failing at adding anything to the conversation, is a typical case of “it doesn’t affect me, so no one should care”. But you know the meme “i award you no point, everyone in this discussion is now dumber because of what you said”?.. well that would apply there. Please, abstain next time, so I don’t have to respond to your active aggression with well deserved mockery and sarcasm.
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But doesn’t the level cap function when you create a game fix this? I just think it’s weird that no-one uses it.
Though /players x in multiplayer would be lovely
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This.
Put level restrictions (check the Level Difference box when creating a game) on your games that involves questing. I usually set mine so that nobody above level 79 can join. I figure most people below level 80 will struggle to solo anything in a full game in Hell and so far it’s been successful.
Level Difference works like this. If you’re level 72 and you put a level difference of 4 on your game, anyone from level 68-76 can join.
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I would agree with you if that level restriction was dynamic, but as far as I observed it is not.
Now imagine the situation, let’s say you 75 and put a -/+4 difference in a act 1 hell game. Some people join and all enjoy a non-rush game as a group, after 40 minutes, all quests completed, everyone levelled up two or three times, then they go for act2 and radament goes down soon after. While in the maggot lair, a first player leaves, then a second before vipers and as one make a town stop because he needs to take a leak irl and maybe roll some funny cigarettes or whatever, the remaining active teammates start to find the game less enjoyable because of their fewer number.
After an hour, everyone reached level 79, the game is still named act1 and still only allows 71-79 chars to join , and well, no very much needed fresh blood and reinforcements show up, even though outside in the lobby there are 6 level 78-82 looking for an act2 game in the midst of all the chaosbaalruns and the gazillion of trading games… those might not have figured out based on some probability/game age analysis that the game is currently in act2, or if they did, it might be they are sadly above 79. I won’t go into all the possibilities there and you should get the point that “yes”, this solution might work, but it also comes with its own issues.
Anyway, there is probably no perfect solving of this. In the end, my point though was not to “solve” this, but rather to highlight how preposterous the situation is when it occurs. You go in trade room, the creator is trying to trade, but the 7 other players who joined just don’t give a fox and are just farming whatever they can farm, while in the lobby there is someone really interested in trading what the host has to offer and can’t join… that is the kind of situation I still find hilariously absurd since 20 years, now with upgraded graphics and minor (yet welcome) QoL changes.
I can say with confidence as a person who has played for more than 7 years in multiplayer, adding command /players X for online rooms will completely fix this problem. This will not make anyone worse, only it will get better, but to whom exactly:
- for people who needs an additional challenge during playthrough with an appropriate reward for it in the form of additional loot
- for people whose build allows to farm p8 mod almost as fast as p1, there is no reason to play with the maximum chance of nodrop from mobs with p1 mod
- for people who do not want to interfere playthrough and completing quests by others in open games.
Setting limits on the level is complete nonsense, forget about it, if you up the level above the limit - you can’t join in that room anymore.
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+1 to /players x command on Bnet
that would improve the gaming experience by a multiple…
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another +1 to /players X command on Bnet
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another +1 to /players X command on Bnet
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Nice to see you guys listing up all the positive things player 8 multiplayer would bring, but maybe you also should bring up some of the negative things that the player 8 function would do to bnet play as well.
Being able to do player 8 would be great for me personally, but i believe that the negative impact this would have on bnet is much larger than the positives.
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I assume that the players 8 on bnet is a bad idea too. Just because most likely grinders will get rich even faster, and noobs will remain poor still. And probably there will be less need in baal runs or chaos santuary runs, since everyone could get players 8 exp in a solo game.
But the worst thing that could happen is that the bots may become even more viable for farm, and espetially for leveling.
Roxyfoxy, any example comes to you mind or it is indeed as per the term you used “a belief”?
The reason the /xplayer command exists is because in single player there is no trade so in order for players to get items need to have a better droprate somehow and this is why this command exists.
For me the solution of /xplayer command is not good but i d rather have, as someone else mentioned , the option that in order to have the effect of more players in the game , you have to be in the same area. This should be optional when the game is created because ,for example , me and my friends wanna make a 3 people game that 1 is farming cows 1 is farming Sanctum and 1 is farming Baal and we all want to get the additional loot chance.
I understand the issue, i too am guilty for joining random games just to MF.
Though the reality is simple, dont make public games if you want people to play your way.
Ive been trashtalked and called leecher for not participating in cowruns. Don´t understand what leeching i am doing if im clearing annother part of the map alone. On the other hand its always that lvl 50 dude that complains. Sure he is in the cow-lvl but he for sure aint killing anything but just leeching exp.
Nav, yes there could definitely be an impact on the economy but necessarily a bad one? I mean if resources are more abundant would that not actually decrease their value as if there were more rare? That would also mean “the rich becoming richer” would be all relative, yes they would have more goods and acquire them even easier, but since that would be the case for average players too, the value of those goods by themselves should decrease and therefore be more accessible to poor players too.
Besides, i think the “need” for baal and chaos sanctuary runs would still be there, since new players, casual players, and rerolls would still need to go through that “necessary step” if they can’t run it by themselves, which is unlikely.
Another thing is that “the rich” as you called them are already quite godly just a couple of weeks after the launch, and beyond finding that perfect torch or getting their runeword perfectly rolled, there is little for them to do. Also, i am quite convinced that many of those top of the basket player don’t even bother picking up runes below um or ist that is only small change for them. So yeah, will there really be a difference? I might be wrong but my opinion is that it would instead lift slightly everyone else up while those guy compete for that last 1% of perfection they still missing in their optimisation quest.
Also it is important to highlight that there is a great unifier and common denominator, limited inventory space that is the same for everyone. Once you filled that with zods, ohm and your godly items, then what do you do, buy another account? 
Still while you comment is really valid, I posted this topic aware of that as well, but with the main concern being that it is definitely a frustrating experience to find yourself in a game where no one is willing to do what the game theme is, so what would be more important?