Party Mechanics (Current State?)

I'll try to do some digging and find recent changes to group mechanics.

1- Looks like you don't even receive the +50% quantity unless players are near each other:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/274216/page/1

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Version 0.10.4:
Item drops from monsters are now calculated based on the number of players nearby (13 metres - around six tiles, which is approximately a screen) rather than the number in the instance. The quantity of drops is based on the minimum of the number of players who were around at the start and end of the fight. This means that if you spawn a boss alone before bringing in friends to help (or if the friends leave during the fight) then it will only drop enough items for one person.

And then later in the same post:

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To clarify how the item drop changes: All players in the current area (which includes the whole map and any side areas accessible via teleporters that don't involve loading screens) are counted. For example, if you run up to Brutus but the rest of your party is still elsewhere in the Upper Prison (which is the same world area), then they are all counted. They have to be near you when Brutus dies, though. The radius for that check is 120 units (which is approximately 6 tiles or 13 metres (40 feet?).

So all players need to be within a screen of each other (not even two screens like I thought) when the monster is first damaged, AND when the monster dies. You basically have to stick together like glue to receive less loot per person than you normally would if you both played alone.

If one player wanders off, you both have to deal with 175% hp monsters that give as much xp and loot as a 100% hp monster in a solo game. A rather extreme penalty imo.

I'll do more digging and post my findings and sources.

Here's another:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/56368

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0.9.13e
Players now receive the same amount of experience from nearby monster kills regardless of how many members are in their party. Because experience is awarded to nearby party members equally and is not divided up between them any more, monsters are no longer scaled up in experience if you're playing in a party.
This means that larger parties who stick together will get slightly more experience than before, and that idling characters elsewhere in the level no longer increases your experience gains. Solo players receive exactly the same experience that they did previously.

And in the second post:

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Specifically, the consequences of the experience changes are:

Players who play alone will notice no change.

Players who "boosted" by having lower level party members in the area (out of experience distance) will now receive the same experience as if they killed monsters in a solo game.

Players who play in a party and stay near each other (the radius is around the distance you can see them on the map unpartied - quite far) will receive more experience than before. The same experience per monster as if they were playing solo, but there are two of them fighting harder monsters.

So the whole +50% base xp, +30% party xp bonus deal was removed with this patch? Mind you, this patch was over 9 months ago: Nov 2012.

If I understand this correctly, monsters give 100% xp to each nearby player when they are killed. So if you are grouped up, you get more xp/h. And if you are grouped but not near each other (2 screens according to this post), you get much less xp/h.


My question right now is; is this the current system or the old system?

But if i understand correctly, and this is assuming you are in a party with people you actually call friends because random games seem like a horrible idea. But assuming that, maybe you personally do get "less" drops but as a group together you do get much more drops. So in essence you do have a better chance to get something you could need

Get a fast group and you'll get more exp/items.

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SnowCrash82 wrote:

But if i understand correctly, and this is assuming you are in a party with people you actually call friends because random games seem like a horrible idea. But assuming that, maybe you personally do get "less" drops but as a group together you do get much more drops. So in essence you do have a better chance to get something you could need

This is true. But it is still better to just play separately, and keep items you think might be useful to your friends. That's what we do. And it results in more drops overall.

The drops aren't the real issue though. XP is. Also, the fact that you need to stick together like glue or receive severe penalties to both xp and loot.

Well.. to be truthful the only time i really party up is when i am actually over at my friends house and we are playing. But the "range" you have to be at dos seem fairly extrema. I wounder why such a very short range was picked

Wanted to bump this as I still haven't found any definitive information on how party experience is supposed to work.

I want to play with a friend now, but he's 49 and my closest character is 63. I want to learn what level he has to be before we can play together without completely butchering his experience gain.

Wouldn't it be useful to new players if the mechanics thread is updated with the correct information regarding party mechanics? In my search I found numerous people asking the same questions about party xp, months after it was changed, and people pointing them to the same old incorrect mechanics thread.

Makes me wonder what else in that thread is outdated. :<

Just wanted to add one point that has not been discussed and that does matter in party gaming clear speed.

If your damage is high enough that you kill monsters that are +75% hps as fast, or nearly as fast as non-partied monsters, the calculations for total benefit is quite a bit higher. Even if things like bosses would still be around 114% speed with two players, most normal mobs would be fast to clear.

Also, there are synergies to consider... a bad synergy team will be at the minimum number, while a duo that has builds that work well together, one focusing on cursing so that the other saves time on that for instance, it will also increase clear speed significantly.

So basicly the mathmatical numbers here are generally a "minimum", not the average result of partying, and definately not the optimal result of a good team.