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[[Image:Party01.jpg|frame|More is fun.]]
While Diablo III is fully playable solo, without any "[[raid]]" type content that requires multiple players to defeat, the [[D3 Team]] had cooperative multiplayer in mind all along. As frequently stated in interviews, "Do no harm to co-op." was one of their main considerations during all development decisions, and whenever they speak of the most fun way to play Diablo III, they stress that a friendly party of up to four players (which is the [[maximum game size ]] in Diablo III) is the best way to experience the game.
Diablo III features several improvements over Diablo II's multiplayer experience: there are now individual loot drops, there is no nonconsensual PvP ([[PKing]]), and other game features such as the party system and the [[quests]] system have also been upgraded. On the other hand, some of D2's major bonuses to group play, such as greatly increased drop rates and experience gain are not present in Diablo III, and there are many fewer skills with shared benefits for the whole party. As a result fans have often pointed out[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/bonuses-to-co-op-in-d3] that while D3 removed numerous problems with D2's MP play, it's actually removed a lot of the bonuses as well, and that the D3 developers seem to simply assume fans will play together, even in the absence of actual benefits for doing so.
==The Party System==
[[File:Party-profiles1.jpg|frame|Other player profiles.]]
There is no more party system in D3, at least {{iw|Multiplayer not like there was in D2}}. In D2 players who joined a game were neutral, neither friend nor enemy. They could become enemies by clicking the hostile button, or become friends by joining a party together. Once they were partied, they shared [[experience]] and [[gold]], if they remained fairly close together. Partying was optional though, and parties could be dissolved or abandoned, or everyone in a party could simply go their own way within the same game.
While these features are definitely boosts to co-op, some fans have pointed out that they're more about the removal of anti-co-op features, rather than the adding of specific benefits to it. On that side of the coin, Diablo 3 has some areas with fewer co-op bonuses than were present in Diablo 2.
* The [[maximum players ]] per game has been lowered from 8 to 4.
* The [[experience]] gained no longer scales up with more players.
** [[Monsters]] do still gain more hit points, though. ([[Beta]] testing indicates a 75% increase per additional character in the game.)
<blue><font color="#FFFFFF">Part of me thinks it’s cool that I can play solo and never feel like I’m missing out on something. But another part of me thinks that since this is an online-only game that we should WANT to play Co-Op and that there should be added incentive for doing so.</font>
<br>Faster killing speed means more drops, more drops means more power or money. Since the goal of the game essentially boils down to either power or wealth, or both, the advantage (in our opinion) is pretty clear and doesn’t need any additional incentive.</blue>
==Multiplayer Difficulty==
==Chat Channels for Diablo III==
Blizzard intended to phase chat channels out of B.net with their newer games, starting with [[Starcraft 2]]. They That plan did not include chat channels last in the designface of intense player criticism, and resisted adding them until continuous player requests wore them downchat channels were added back into Starcraft 2 some months after release. Chat channels They were not supported present during the Diablo III beta or upon launch in July, but by October 2010 they were said to be well under development and due to be added in have been confirmed as a feature[http://twitter.com/#!/Bashiok/status/166324491994148864] for the futurefull game. There's This was no guarantee surprise, after the developers said they'll be enabled for Diablo IIIhoped to include them, but if fans demand it they probably willeventually.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/d3-will-have-chat-channels-on-battle.net/]
==Improved Multiplayer Game Creation==
[[File:Party02.jpg|frame|Four player party.]]As of the beta test, the [[Friend's Friends List]] is at least partially integrated into the game creation options. A buddy on your Friend's List can see if you are online or in a game, and can join into your game instantly, if there's room. So far there's no automated way to stick together and move from one game to another, though the developers talked about creating such a system during the development process. [http://pc.ign.com/articles/101/1017305p1.html]
<blue>There was some poor matchmaking in Diablo 2, it was kind of esoteric and hard to use. We want a platform that puts you right next to someone else who's into the same thing as you, at the same level. We want you to be able to open up that friends list and say, oh, my friend Steve's killing Diablo, join! And you're right there next to them. We want players to be able to play together very, very easily. That's going to be a lot of work.
