Hello Travelers!
We have been working very hard on multiplayer and we know that you are very excited to get your hands on it. We also know that you have a lot of questions regarding the specifics of how multiplayer will function. This FAQ represents our current plans for multiplayer. As development progresses, some things could change and we will keep this FAQ up to date. We know that this may spark more questions and we will do our best to add those to this list as they arise.
Patch notes link here to the Multiplayer section
Convergence, Patch 0.9 Patch notes
Basics
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When will multiplayer be released?
It has arrived! Multiplayer released on March 9th, 2023 in beta form*.* -
How many people in a party?
You will be able to be in a party of up to 4 players, including yourself. -
Will multiplayer be server authoritative?
Yes, Last Epoch’s multiplayer will be server authoritative which largely prevents cheating, allows us to have competitive systems like leaderboards and races, and store characters securely that can be accessed from any machine that has Last Epoch playable. -
Will I be able to play offline?
Yes, but only with characters that you’ve chosen to create as offline characters. Online characters cannot be played offline and offline characters cannot be played online to prevent cheating. -
What is the user flow of getting into game?
You will enter the world on a single character and be able to party with people in that same mode once in the game world. For example, if you create a hardcore character you will load into the game and then be able to form parties with other hardcore characters. -
Will I only see other players if I’m in a party with them?
When adventuring through the world, yes. Coming soon, you will see many other players in public non-combat areas like towns. -
Do you plan to have multiplayer specific PvE content?
Because we don’t want to lock the best loot behind content that requires a cooperative party and maintain that playing with groups is optional (albeit a lot of fun) we will not be adding content that requires parties to defeat. -
Will multiplayer be predictive or lockstep?
Our approach to multiplayer is not a perfect analog of predictive or lockstep. We are prioritizing controls feeling as responsive as possible, so multiplayer should feel very close to single player unless your ping is particularly high. -
Will there be a way to find other players to party with?
Yes. We will have a LFG channel for chat with more options to come soon! -
Will there be PvP?
We’re still looking into this, however it’s not currently a priority feature to be added. -
Is there friendly fire?
No. -
Can I inspect other players?
Not currently, but possibly after 1.0. -
Will there be incentives to party with other players?
We want the decision of playing with others to depend on whether you like spending time adventuring with other players, and try to steer away from it being a much more efficient way to beat content or get loot. Besides having an organized or synergistic team that can defeat enemies faster than a solo player, we are not planning to incentivize parties with additional rewards. -
What happens to my current characters when multiplayer goes live?
All characters created offline will not be transferable to the online multiplayer environment. If you want to play multiplayer, you will have to start from level 1 again. Your current offline characters will still be available to play offline just as they are now.
Gameplay
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Will party members be able to resurrect each other?
No, Softcore players will be able to revive, and teleport back to other party members in most activities. Hardcore characters cannot revive. -
Can party members revive Primalist party member’s pets?
You betcha. -
How will quests work in a party?
Events that are not repeatable within the same instance, such as killing a boss, will complete an objective or start a quest for everyone in the instance. Repeatable events, such as walking to a location or talking to an NPC, will only complete an objective or start a quest for the player triggering the event, but other players can trigger it in the same way. Generally if you skip to completing an objective further along a quest line than you were before it will fast forward you to that point, so skipping ahead does not leave you unable to progress. -
How will enemies scale?
When additional party members join an area monster’s health will scale up per party member. We are not planning to scale damage as this can be discouraging for players who have geared defensively for a solo experience. -
Are there tanks and healers?
While players may build to be tankier or heal allies there is no designation that a player IS or is not a tank/healer or other. Parties will not need to be built with tanks and healers in mind. -
Will content be easier or harder in groups?
Our design goal is to have it so that a party that is cooperating is slightly more efficient than a solo player and a disorganized party is slightly less efficient than a solo player. -
How will balance be considering the huge variety in character builds?
Some party compositions will synergize well together and we’ve built in mechanics to many skills and classes that will benefit parties. We will continue balancing to make sure that there are not team comps that are too overpowered. -
Will there be a balancing pass on skills for multiplayer?
Yes. Some of this will likely occur after multiplayer is already publicly testable, and some of this has already happened. Balancing is an ongoing effort. -
Will there be a grace period upon entering party member’s zones that are in combat so I don’t die upon entering?
Yes. -
Can I skip the parts of the story through party member boosting?
Yes. We prioritize letting people play together over forcing players to go through every step of the story. -
Following up on #10, How are you going to get passive points and idol slots?
The same way as if you played normally. You’ll need to go back and complete the quests to get the Passives and Idols if you’ve skipped content with a group. It’s worth noting that there are more quests with idol inventory rewards than you need to fully unlock your idol inventory, so you don’t have to complete all of them. We are planning to change passive point rewards to work in the same way. -
Can I heal/buff/sacrifice another party member’s minions?
You can positively affect them with heals and buffs, but cannot sacrifice or harm them. -
Can I power level my friends?
There is a cap on effective experience level of a zone. For example, a level 10 player in a level 20 zone will gain xp as if the enemies were level 13, not level 20. This does not affect the experience gained by other players.
Loot
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What will the trade system be like?
A more robust trade system will be coming in a later patch. You can find more information here https://forum.lastepoch.com/t/trade-development-update-introducing-merchants-guild-and-circle-of-fortune-factions/51994. -
Will players be able to give their friends items?
If they were playing together in the same party when the item dropped they will be able to Gift one another the item. -
Will players be able to link Items in chat?
Not for 0.9 but this will be coming in the near future. -
Are you changing loot drop rates or crafting because of multiplayer?
With 0.9, Drop rates are the same whether you’re in a group or not. Because of the way item gifting has been set up, we don’t believe this throws off the balance of the item hunt drastically. A more robust item hunt system is planned to come in a later patch with Factions (https://forum.lastepoch.com/t/trade-development-update-introducing-merchants-guild-and-circle-of-fortune-factions/51994) -
How will loot drops work in a party?
Loot drops will be instanced, meaning that only you will see the items that are dropped for you. You will not see or be able to interact with other player’s loot. Loot will drop at the same rate and rarity that it does when not in a party. -
Can party members see the loot that drops for all other party members?
No, we don’t want to clutter the player’s screen or the ground with items they cannot pickup. In the near future, items can be linked in chat to share your findings with your party though.
Content Specific
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How will Monolith work in a party?
Any player will be able to click the monolith stone to bring up their run of that timeline and choose an echo. Other players in the party can then follow that player into their echo, help them complete it, and share the rewards. The stability reward will go towards each of the players’ individual runs of that timeline, as will quest echo completion. Completing a third Quest Echo will only provide the end of Echo Quest Rewards (Boss drops and Blessing) for players which have sufficient stability for the Quest Echo, and will lose the corresponding stability in receiving those rewards. -
Do I get blessings if I help my friend kill a monolith boss?
Yes - if you have sufficient stability in that timeline to complete the third Echo Quest. -
Follow Up: Does this make the most optimal way to play to be to split up and tackle multiple timelines at once, then just join for the boss fight?
No, because you gain the same stability with four players completing one echo together as you do with four players all completing different echoes (assuming each echo has the same stability reward). -
Will there be Player Hideouts or Housing?
We are interested in adding a player housing system. This is not included in our initial launch scope. We will consider adding this as a new feature in a future cycle.
- This thread will have replies disabled as there is too much to unpack and discuss in a single thread - but please do discuss and let us know how you feel about individual points in other threads! We will also be leaving replies open on the monthly multiplayer update reports to have a more focused discussion on those items.
Thanks again for your patience all this time as we worked to bring Multiplayer to Last Epoch! We fully expect there to be some issues as this is still an Open Beta version of Multiplayer but in the end we will continue to strive to deliver an overall great Multiplayer ARPG experience!