In regards to each character, you have three possible options, depending on their status:
* Invite: Press this button to invite the player to join your party. They will receive a text notification in bright green.
* Cancel: Cancel an invitation. (Usually done so you can invite again, in case they didn't notice the first one.)
* Accept: Press this button to accept a party invitation you receive. You will instantly join the party.
Parties differ from normal unaligned gameplay in a few ways; party members on the same [[levels|level]] share gold and experience (formulas listed below), can use each other's town portals, can benefit from each other's auras, and can see each other's current location on the party screen.
To get an invitation to a party, you can ask by typing a chat message. There is no way to ask for an invite via the party window, and it's impossible to force your way into a party. You can only invite non-aligned characters, not those who are already in parties.
Parties are entirely democratic. No one has control over them or the ability to kick out other party members, and anyone in a party can invite unaligned players to join. You can always leave a party though, and if someone in the party is being annoying and the others don't want to share experience with them, everyone can leave the party and form a new one without inviting the annoying person to join. Players who are so scorned often retaliate by going hostile, either since they want to fight or (more often) simply to be annoying.
=Party Options=
There are several control options available while in a party, some of which are not available at other times. When you are in a party, a button appears on top of the party menu, with the word "LEAVE" in bright green letters. Clicking that will immediately exit you from the party (and dissolve the party if there was just one other player in it).
and their party status. To invite others to join you The following icons appear in a the partywindow, or to join beside the name of each character in your existing party. The first three are for all characters, just click the invite icon next but corpse looting is only available to their name[[Hardcore]] characters since patch v1.08. They will see a message about your invitation in bright green text, and can join with a * When you click any of these icons icons, the icon in the party window. There is no leader of affected player receives a party; everyone is equal in it and anyone can invite additional players to joinnotification.
To get an invitation [[Image:Party-hostile1.jpg|frame|left]] '''Neutral/Hostile:''' Clicking the crossed swords icon will declare hostility on the chosen player, and enable your character to deal damage to them (and them to you). If you declare hostility on a player in a party, you can ask by typing a chat message. There is no way to ask for an invite via your declaration affects everyone in the party windowat once, and it's impossible to force your way into exits you from that party if you are a party. By the same token, member of it's impossible to kick someone else out of a party. You A character can always leave a party thoughonly go hostile while in town, and if someone in the doing so immediately exits them from their party is being annoying and the others don't want to share experience with themcloses their town portal. Hostility can only be declared once per minute/per character, everyone can leave the party and form a new one without inviting the annoying person to joinprevent grief-motivated hostility spamming.
=Party Options=[[Image:Party-hostile1chat1.jpg|frame|left]]'''Include/Exclude:''' Excluding a player from chat means they will not "hear" anything you "say" when you type messages. This effectively makes your typed messages a group whisper to every character but the excluded one. Click the button again to include (stop excluding) the player. [[Image:Party-loot1squelch1.jpg|frame|left]]'''Squelch/Unsquelch:''' This button mutes the selected player, making it so that their messages will not appear on your screen. [[Image:Party-chat1loot1.jpg|frame|left]]'''Allow Loot:''' This option, <u>available only in Hardcore mode</u>, permits the designated characters to take the items off of your corpse when (if) you die. It's common practice for hardcore players to allow friends looting privileges, though many is the HC player who has cursed his fate when dying unexpectedly, without allowing his friends this option. Allowing it to strangers in a public game can be a risky proposition, since it might encourage them to try to go hostile on you, and even if they do not, and you die to a monster, and they loot you, there's nothing that says they have to give you your equipment back. Still, if you do not set loot you will surely lose everything upon death, and if someone PKs you you can probably exit the game after you die, but before they're able to get to your corpse to claim their spoils. If a friend dies and you have loot, it's imperative that you get to their corpse as quickly as possible, since if they died from latency over a poor connection, their body might vanish seconds after their death when they disconnect. If you trust everyone else in the game, it's best to clean their corpse like a piranha, even if inventory restrictions mean that you must scatter the items on the ground in the dungeon. At least there they won't vanish forever, if the dead player disconnects, and you can make several trips to town to get everything squared in your stash and cube. (This logic holds true for a PK victim too, of course.) [[Image:=Player Relations= 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-squelch1screen, and with on screen notices (and a warning sound effect, in the case of hostility).jpg]] ==Hostility==
If no button appearsPlayers who are hostile to each other can target each other, and each other's minions, then the just as if they were monsters. When another player goes hostile to you, you immediately go hostile in return. The advantage (other than surprise) is not available - because that player is already a member of another to the target, since the one who declares hostility instantly exits their party. You may not invite them until they leave and sees their current partytown portal close. Of courseSince hostility can only be declared in town, players who are wary of an attack are generally safe, unless they could invite you to join theirs're standing very near the town exit or a waypoint. Care should be taken in public games when in such locations.
Once in hostile, both players must agree to return to a party you may leave it by pressing the LEAVE button at the top of the party screenfriendly setting. If you leave a party of more than two playersone player turns off their hostility they will return to neutral, but the other player will still be hostile to them. This is to prevent players remain in that party. Once you leave a party, you may form or join from being able to simply turn off another's declaration of hostility.
There are three or four buttons on the Party Screen depending on whether you are playing Normal or Hardcore mode: ==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. 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. Include/Exclude from Chat button. When you Exclude a player, that player cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from you. Squelch/Unsquelch button. When you Squelch a player, you cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from that player. NOTE: When you press any button on the Party screen, the target player receives an appropriate message about your action.==
=Party Benefits=Forming Parties with other PlayersParties allow players to share experience, gold, information about where the players in the party All characters are located, and quest information. Parties allow players to work together to beat the neutral when they first join a game. Many Class skills are designed to help not only yourself but other players in You must declare hostility, or join a party. A good example of this is (become friendly) to change the Paladin's Defensive Aura: Prayerstarting neutral state. Prayer not only will heal Neutral characters can play in the Paladin same areas, but they will also heal his Hireling and not share experience, gold, spell effects, or be able to directly affect each other members of the party and their Hirelings. There are plenty of other party friendly skills and spellsin any way.
==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.=Experience Sharing=
;Neutral: You cannot target players with this settingCharacters in the same party share experience when they are on the same level together. If you try to target a particular Neutral player[[Levels]] are discrete areas of the map, such as the true target instead shifts to a nearby monster, Hostile player[[Blood Moor]], or simply the ground[[Den of Evil]]. You cannot directly harm Proximity to another character does not matter; you can be half a Neutral player.:Neutral players may form a Party together. Party members screen away and not share equally in gold and experience points. Certain skills, like Paladin Auras and Barbarian Warcries, apply to party members, too.:NOTE: You receive if you or they have crossed over into a message whenever players change their relationship settings with youdifferent level.
=Experience is Shared within a Party=In addition to sharing experience, there are experience bonuses in parties. The total experience earned for killing a given monster is increased by 35% when a both party member of the killer is members are 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 Sharing [[experience]] enables weak or lower level characters to the member's level divided by up quickly when partied with efficient killers. During the sum of all various patches added to the members' levels. After this Experience Share is computedgame, it is multiplied by another percentage that is computed limitations have been placed on a sliding scale that is based on the difference between your character's experience sharing, to prevent very low level characters from simply tagging along and leveling up like a slot machine while standing well away from the monster's level -- regardless of whether you are in a party or notaction. The sliding scale applies if the level difference is between 5 and 10In v1. If the level difference is relatively small (11, characters need to be within 5 or less), you get 100% levels of the Experience Share. If the level difference is relatively large monsters (10 or morethat are dying)to gain full experience, a minimum amount (5%) of and the Experience Share experience is earned. Thus, high-level divided between characters killing low-level monsters get only on a small amount of experience. Similarlysliding scale, 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 higher 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 Automapreceiving proportionally more.
==Experience Restrictions==Party Members Another patch change requires that party members be near the action to gain experience. In early versions of ''Diablo II'' a character only had to be on the same level. In v1.10+ characters must be a distance of on the same level '''and''' within about 2 two screens from of the monster death deaths to gain share 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 GoldEven with these changes, 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. Itit's a good idea to keep Gold in your Stash when in a Party still quite profitable for low level characters 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 splitwith higher level ones, then rejoin the party. You can also drop Gold in Town or an areaespecially past level 25, then make sure no one in the party is in the same area when the pile of Gold is picked up off the groundmajor limitations are relaxed.
==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) Gold Sharing= 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 Gold is shared evenly between party members on the same level. If a 25% chance stack of dropping something203 gold is picked up by a character with 4 others in his party, each character will receive 40 gold, so with the character who picked it up receiving the 3 left over after the even shares are distributed. All gold picked up in the values game is shared this way, with all other players in the table need area. This includes gold dropped due to be adjusted the gold penalty for that fact. Alsodeath, some monsters (namely bosses and chests), roll more than once for items even gold dropped and picked up in town (since they can drop multiple itemswhich will be shared with any other party members in town at that time). The bonus for additional players gets calculated into each roll.
Some bosses To exchange gold without sharing it, use the trading screen (such as normal uniqueswhile in town) will always drop a magic item or better. The additional players will have else pick it up when no effect on themother party members are in the area.
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.
=Increased Item Drops=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 While being in a party does not improve the game without working quality of item drops (that's what [[Magic Find]] is for ), itdoes increase the quantity of items dropped. If More characters in a player is unable to enter game does that too, but more characters in a portal, this means they need party adds to complete a questthe benefit. (And that's not even counting the faster killing time possible when characters cooperate.)
=Party Tips=Decide how you These benefits are going to divide up the lootseen chiefly from regular monsters, and also from Act Bosses. There Random bosses, champion types, and other [[Superuniques|SuperUniques]] are unaffected by more players in a few popular ways to do this:*Players unofficially rotate between items, "you got something last time, now it's my turn."*The Group leader or Master Looter decides which player gets which item.*The least structured methodgame, but unfortunately most popular, is Free-For-All. Whichever player can click on since the items the fastest will get those items, if they have room in quantity of their backpack. When loot drops is FFA, often monsters come second as party members race to grab the good loot. Keep set in mind that Gold is split so let greedy party members grab up all the gold they wantgame code. One thing to watch out for Regular monsters drop far more items in FFA looting are players who will let other players in the party finish off larger games, and Act Bosses have a monster while they stand there doing nothing waiting for the item better chance to drop. This is not recommendedmultiple items (up to six) in larger games.
Share items among classes For example, here's a demonstration of the increasing odds that can best use thema regular (non-boss) monster will drop something when it dies. You may find If the monster has a Magic Staff that is worth money 25% chance to drop something in a single player game, it will drop at the vendors but do the right thing and let the Sorceress have the Staff if she needs itfollowing % for more players.* 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. Don900This is a spurious example, since normal monsters don't be have a jerk25% chance to drop something, if a Sorceress helps you kill a monster, and a Sorceress item drops, let but it gives an idea of the Sorceress pick it up!rate of increase.
If class-specific items drop, let players of those classes pick them up. Don't pick them up just because you want to see what it is, or because you want to trade it. If a class is helping you, they deserve a cut of the loot. Be fair and let them have their class-specific items. Let the Assassins pick up Katars, let the Sorceress pick up Orbs and so on. Yes that means you, Barbarians!
Share potions among classes that can best use them. While all classes can use Mana, Health and Rejuvenation potions, some classes need some potions over others. Casters need Mana and Rejuvenation Potions, let them have them. Amazons and Melee Characters can use Mana/Life Steal while players like Necromancers, Elemental Druids, and Sorceresses have to rely on Potions and their Mana Regeneration.=Town Portal Restrictions=
If you get a good item such as a Set or UniqueThe v1.09 and especially v1.10 patches added various town portal restrictions, stop looting and let other to prevent players in the party do the looting from then on. You got your good item so let them get items to make easily "rushing" low level characters up for itthrough the game. Don't be Prior to those patches, a jerk! Share the loot! When you continue brand new character could simply take town portals to loot items they will be thinking didnCatacombs 4, Tal Rasha't that player just s Tomb, the Durance of Hate 3, and so forth, get something good? And they'll be right! You got your itemclose enough to activate the quest, and then stand back while a higher level character slaughtered the Act Boss in seconds. After v1.10, it's their turnthis process is somewhat complicated by the so called "blocking quests."
==Pick These quests designate areas to which new characters can not take a leader==This player will be town portal, until they have finished the one who leads the group throughout areas and dungeonsquest. This player will open doorsFor instance, and sometimes "pull" monsters back it's now impossible to take a portal to the party to attack. Barbarians[[Canyon of the Magi]], Amazons with Melee Weapons[[Tal Rasha's Tomb|Seven Tombs]], Assassins, Melee Druids, and Paladins are good at this jobor [[Durial's Lair]] before a character completes [[Quests_Act_Two#Quest_Five:_The_Summoner|The Summoner]] quest.Other blocked areas include:
An alternative method * [[Quests_Act_Two#Quest_Three:_The_Tainted_Sun|The Tainted Sun]] must be completed to portal to: The Harem, Palace Basement, or Arcane Sanctuary.* [[Quests_Act_Three#Quest_Five:_The_Blackened_Temple|The Blackened Temple]] quest must be completed before a character can take a group leader is portal into the Durance of Hate.** Rather than having to collect all the parts of Khalim, it's possible to get credit for killing the "wandering pack"high council in Travincal, which wanders off then return to town and take a portal into an area the Durance.* [[Quests_Act_Five#Quest_Five:_Rite_of_Passage|The Rite of Passage]] quest must be completed before a character can take a portal into the Worldstone Keep.** It's possible to have another player create the game, so you may defeat the ancients and comes back together after running walk into troublethe Worldstone Keep without completing the quest. "Hey I brought some friends This is recommended, since the experience reward for killing the Ancients on Nightmare and Hell is so much more valuable when taken at level 90+, thanks to the heavy experience penalties that set in at higher levels. Save them both until level 98, if you!" This can also work and may 're taking your character to level 99.* The [[Secret Cow Level]]: It's impossible to take the red portal in, or may not be as successful as having a group leader. This is friend's town portal, unless your character has qualified for the most popular but least effective methodquest by defeating Baal on that difficulty level.
[[category:basics]]
