Party Mechanics (Current State?)

I wanted to check the current state of party mechanics, as I got conflicting facts from different places.

Afaik, monsters had +50% hp, +50% xp, +50% quantity per extra person in the group. On top of that, if another party member is nearby, you earn +30% xp and share the xp with him.

I read somewhere that since some patch, monsters now have +75% hp per extra person.
(can't remember source)

And I read somewhere else that they no longer give +50% xp per extra person.
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Partying


So let me get this straight:

1 person:
kill at 100% speed. get 100% xp/h, 100% loot/h.

2 people together, doing equal damage:
kill at 114% speed. get 74% xp/h, 85% loot/h.

2 people not near each other:
kill at 57% speed. get 57% xp/h, 85% loot/h.

I'm not even going to get into 3 players and above until I can get some verification that these numbers I am using are right.

So... Are you kidding me?

- I will be harshly penalized if I want to play together with a friend?
- The only way party play is worthwhile is with aura stacking and having a dedicated culling strike IIQ/IIR farmer in the group?
- By trying to nerf xp / loot farming in public parties, ggg has made casual group play very unrewarding.


I'm hoping that I am missing some number somewhere, that these numbers I am getting are not correct. But the last few times I tried to play with a friend, we decided that it's easier if we just play separate instances even though we are online at the same time. That is just... beyond words. (this was before I even did the digging to realize we were getting less xp and loot for our efforts).

So what am I missing? Feel free to call me a noob, a retard, or whatever. I don't care. I just want to get to the bottom of this. :P

Penalized? No. Not at all. Unless you're not counting that your"friend" is getting loot too.

So if we play together for an hour, I get 85 items, and he gets 85 items.

If we don't play together for an hour each, I get 100 items, he gets 100 items.

How is that not "penalized"?

Its always so embarassing if one not capable of using maths is usings maths.

If you get 50% quantity per player how come you get less items when playing 2 player party?

Makes no sense dude.

This thread is ludicrous.

All you need to know is: do lv74+ maps in parties where each contribute with such maps and the party needs one dedicated MF-culling striker last hitting.

That's how the game is played most efficientely.

@KalHirol

I am finding it hard to participate in this discussion. I'll feed the trolls for now to bump the thread until hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about will come put me out of my misery with facts.

2 player party: monster drops 150% loot.

Divide by 2: 75% loot per person.

You are killing them ~14% faster (because they have 175% hp and you're dealing 200% damage), so it's around 85% loot per hour.

I hope this helps clarify the point I'm trying to make. If it doesn't, thanks for trying, please go away. Regards.

@Mazul

Of course. The system makes sense with maps, since you're only spending one map for the two of you, and the loot penalty inherent to the system isn't too harsh to begin with. But I'm complaining about low level gameplay. Say, playing through normal / cruel with a friend, leveling together. The xp penalty is much harsher.

I don't know where you pulling these numbers from honestly.

Monsters get 50% increased HP, you gain 100% increased damage unless someones free loading. As in you should be killing at 150% speed, not 114%.

With a quantity bonus multiplier of 50% that means your getting 75% of the normal loot, HOWEVER you'll be be killing 150% faster and theoretically be safer as well.

Being in an area with a party member grants you a 30% experience bonus. Monsters give +50% base XP for every party member after the first.

In a two player party you'd get 80% increased experience however you'd be sharing that, for a total of 180/2 = 90% XP.

You lose 10% experience and 25% loot. However, you gain a large kill speed bonus since they only gain 50% HP while you'll have 100% increased damage.

This doesn't even factor in that you have access to more status effects, auras and one player can run rarity/quantity gear as well.


There are also other neat tricks you can pull, such as going in different directions and making clever use of portals to get through content faster. IE someone races for the chamber waypoint while the other player gets the western waypoint. Need to go multiple directions such as in A3 slums? Now you can. One player drops a portal by the sewers so that when your done with Piety, you can teleport straight to the sewers.

"

infinityi wrote:

I don't know where you pulling these numbers from honestly.

Monsters get 50% increased HP, you gain 100% increased damage unless someones free loading. As in you should be killing at 150% speed, not 114%.

With a quantity bonus multiplier of 50% that means your getting 75% of the normal loot, HOWEVER you'll be be killing 150% faster and theoretically be safer as well.

Being in an area with a party member grants you a 30% experience bonus. Monsters give +50% base XP for every party member after the first.

In a two player party you'd get 80% increased experience however you'd be sharing that, for a total of 180/2 = 90% XP.

You lose 10% experience and 25% loot. However, you gain a large kill speed bonus since they only gain 50% HP while you'll have 100% increased damage.

This doesn't even factor in that you have access to more status effects, auras and one player can run rarity/quantity gear as well.

Has the 30% exp bonus been tested lately?

Tried recently comparing exp from same monster (skeleton archer) in Sarn City (or whatever it is called, the first area in act 3) merciless when playing solo versus duo. The archer gave exactly the same exp in both cases (yes we were both near the archer in the duo case).

For removal of error, I made sure both I and the duo partner had the same level.

"

KalHirol wrote:

This thread is ludicrous.

It isnt.

The author made this thread because he wants facts, confirmation about mechanics of team play.

The facts are following:
1. To run an high-level area, you should spend a map. If a party uses a map, that means that every member uses 1/N (N=munber of players) maps per run.
2. Maps have 6 portals. It may happen, that party receives more loot, but cant carry it out of map because of portals' lack (usually happens when N>2)
3. Maps can drop more maps. High-level maps usually drop less maps, than their value. I heard that party's size (as well as IR/IQ) doesnt affect this, though it needs confirmation.
4. Let's assume that total party's DPS is just a sum of it's members' DPSes (usually it isnt true, but it's just an approximation).
5. Monsters get more HP and (probably) damage as N increases (works only if players are near monster when it's pulled, though). I want to know exact values.
6. When these monsters are killed, they give better loot. I want to know exact values, too.
7. I want to know, how experience gained is calculated when such a monster is killed. If one player kills a monster that was pulled when there is one player nearby, then he obviously gets 100% experience. What happens, when N players kill a monster, that was pulled when there was M players nearby? How many experience (in%) will receive each player? (M isnt always equal to N).

Thanks for the replies.

@infinityi:

The problem is, I believe it doesn't work like that anymore.

1- They changed it so monsters have +75% hp per extra player now, not +50%.
2- They removed the +50% base xp per extra player completely.
3- The +30% party bonus only applies if the other player is nearby (close enough to share xp).

I'm also not sure how this +30% party bonus scales with more players, the wording sounds like it doesn't scale at all.

I'm very interested in getting to the bottom of this. Thanks for the input so far.