Forming Parties with other Players
Parties allow players to share experience, gold, information about where the players in the party are located,
and quest information. Parties allow players to work together to beat the game. Many Class skills are designed
to help not only yourself but other players in a party. A good example of this is the Paladin's Defensive
Aura: Prayer. Prayer not only will heal the Paladin but will also heal his Hireling and
other members of the party and their Hirelings. There are plenty of other party friendly skills and spells.
Party Options
Press the 'P' key to bring up the Party screen. You see a list of all the players in the game and
your current relationships to them. Names appearing white are Neutral, green are in your Party,
and red are Hostile. Next to each available player's name is the Party button with one of the
following labels:
INVITE: Press this button to invite the player to join your party.
CANCEL: After inviting the player (but before acceptance), you may withdraw the invitation by pressing this button again.
ACCEPT: The player has invited you to join a party. Press this button to accept the invitation.
If no button appears, then the player is not available - because that player is already a member of
another party. You may not invite them until they leave their current party. Of course, they could
invite you to join theirs.
Once in a party you may leave it by pressing the LEAVE button at the top of the party screen. If you
leave a party of more than two players, the other players remain in that party. Once you leave a
party, you may form or join another.
There are three or four buttons on the Party Screen depending on whether you are playing Normal or Hardcore
mode:
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Neutral/Hostile button: When the button shows crossed swords, you are Hostile
to the associated player. You may only go hostile once per minute with each other player in your game.
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Allow/Prevent Corpse Looting button (Hardcore Only). This can allow other players to loot your
body which in Hardcore mode can mean saving your items from being destroyed.
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Include/Exclude from Chat button. When you Exclude a player, that player cannot hear or see any
verbal communication coming from you.
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Squelch/Unsquelch button. When you Squelch a
player, you cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from that player.
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NOTE: When you press any button on the Party screen, the target player receives an appropriate
message about your action.
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Party Relationships
Each player has 2 possible relationships with all other players in the game -- Neutral (the default)
and Hostile. Changes to your relationships are made in the Party screen. (Press 'P' to bring it up.)
Here is how the settings work:
Hostile: You can target players with this setting - just as if they were monsters. If Player
X goes Hostile to Player Y, then Player Y automatically goes Hostile to Player X in return. If Player
X goes Hostile to Player Y and then goes Neutral, Player Y remains Hostile to Player X until Player
Y chooses to go Neutral to Player X. A player can go Hostile only while in town. The other player
can be anywhere.
If a player goes Hostile with a member of a party, all other members of the party will
go Hostile with that player in return. If a player attempts to go Hostile to a fellow Party
member, that player is simply dropped from the Party and becomes a regular Neutral.
Neutral: You cannot target players with this setting. If you try to target a particular
Neutral player, the true target instead shifts to a nearby monster, Hostile player, or simply the
ground. You cannot directly harm a Neutral player.
Neutral players may form a Party together. Party members share equally in gold and experience points.
Certain skills, like Paladin Auras and Barbarian Warcries, apply to party members, too.
NOTE: You receive a message whenever players change their relationship settings with you.
Experience is Shared within a Party
The total experience earned for killing a monster is increased by 35% when a party member of the killer is in the same named area,
defined as the "level" on the Automap. Then the pool is divided as explained below:
For each party member the total Experience earned for killing a monster is divided into shares -- where each member's
fraction of the total Experience is equal to the member's level divided by the sum of all the members' levels.
After this Experience Share is computed, it is multiplied by another percentage that is computed on a sliding
scale that is based on the difference between your character's level and the monster's level -- regardless of
whether you are in a party or not. The sliding scale applies if the level difference is between 5 and 10. If the
level difference is relatively small (5 or less), you get 100% of the Experience Share. If the level difference
is relatively large (10 or more), a minimum amount (5%) of the Experience Share is earned. Thus, high-level
characters killing low-level monsters get only a small amount of experience. Similarly, low-level characters
killing high-level monsters get only a small amount of experience, as well. This is done so that a level 5
character running around with three level 20 characters isn't getting ridiculous amounts of experience for the
higher level monsters which only his level 20 party members can destroy.
Finally, party members share experience only when they are in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap.
Experience Restrictions
Party Members must be a distance of about 2 screens from the monster death to
gain experience from party member kills. This prevents
low-level characters from joining a party and then staying completely
out of harm's way while still getting Experience.
Gold is Shared within a Party
When a party member picks up a stack of Gold, Gold is evenly divided among the
members with any remainder going to the one who picks up the pile. Gold is only split
when Party members are in the same level area or "zone" as shown on the Automap or party menu.
You cannot turn Gold splitting off. Keep this in mind when trying to exchange Gold between party
members and when picking up Gold dropped by other party members when they die. It's a good idea to
keep Gold in your Stash when in a Party to avoid Gold Splitting issues if you die.
To exchange Gold among party members without splitting the Gold use the Secured Trading Screen in town. Other
options include leaving the party to pick up the Gold to avoid the split, then rejoin the party.
You can also drop Gold in Town or an area, then make sure no one in the party is in the
same area when the pile of Gold is picked up off the ground.
Improved Drops for Parties
Every party member in the area of the kill increases the chance that stuff will drop (whether via
monster death, chests, etc). Every two additional other players in the game (whether it's a
non-party member or a party member in another area) count as one additional party member toward the extra chance for a drop.
For example (for a sample baseline 25% drop):
| Party |
Chance Of Getting Something |
| 1 |
1-(0.75^1) = 0.250 |
| 2 |
1-(0.75^2) = 0.438 |
| 3 |
1-(0.75^3) = 0.578 |
| 4 |
1-(0.75^4) = 0.684 |
| 5 |
1-(0.75^5) = 0.763 |
| 6 |
1-(0.75^6) = 0.822 |
| 7 |
1-(0.75^7) = 0.867 |
| 8 |
1-(0.75^8) = 0.900 |
Note that most things don't have a 25% chance of dropping something, so the values in the table
need to be adjusted for that fact. Also, some monsters (namely bosses and chests), roll more
than once for items (since they can drop multiple items). The bonus for additional players gets calculated
into each roll.
Some bosses (such as normal uniques) will always drop a magic item or better. The additional players
will have no effect on them.
The additional players has no effect on the quality of the drop, it only affects the chance that items
get dropped in the first place.
Town Portal Restrictions
You cannot enter Town Portals cast by other players in areas
beyond the "blocking quests" without having completed those quests:
e.g., Canyon of the Magi/Seven Tombs/Duriel's Lair (The Summoner), The
Harem/Palace Basement/Arcane Sanctuary (The Tainted Sun), Durance of
Hate (The Blackened Temple), The Worldstone Keep (The Ancients), The
Secret Cow Level (Terror's End in DII classic or Eve of Destruction in
DII: LoD). NOTE: A player who kills the High Council (but doesn't use
Khalim's Will to smash the Compelling Orb) may take a Town Portal into
the Durance of Hate.
This is to prevent higher level players from helping lower level players to advance further in the game
without working for it. If a player is unable to enter a portal, this means they need to complete a quest.
