In Diablo 4 there are various activities you can do with other players. Experts, however, believe: It’s not worth it – group play is even penalized in some cases.
Basically, the group play aspect in Diablo 4 has been criticized since its release. Already in August 2023, players stated: Diablo 4 is the loneliest multiplayer game they have ever encountered – despite the open, shared world. The lack of social features is often discussed.
In YouTube videos, two experts are now talking about how group play is rarely worth it. In particular, an endgame activity needs their opinion to be revised to improve group performance.
What activity is it about? The Diablo expert Rob2628 reacts in a YouTube video to the statements of content creator Rhykker regarding group play in Diablo 4. A major topic is the pit – the new endgame activity that came into the game with Season 4.
Less mats, because you play with friends
What do the experts criticize? Rob says in the video that group play is “punished like crazy” and simply isn’t worth it. One doesn’t even want to go into the activity with friends. Rhykker notes that group play in the pit is not encouraged and is discouraging.
This is primarily due to the few materials that players receive as a reward at the end in a group. You need the special mats from the pit for the two crafting systems Tempering and Masterworking in Diablo 4.
- The one who opens the pit with 3 runes gets 100% of the intended mats.
- All others receive 50% of the intended mats.
This means concretely: One player gets all the mats, while all others get only half as much. So one would have to take turns opening the pit. It’s more efficient to just do the activity alone.
According to Rob, it’s not worth doing pit runs in a group when it comes to pace and difficulty. In principle, it’s even harder to play in a group. Each player makes the run harder. And splitting up on the levels to get through faster doesn’t really help, as there is usually only one way to go.
What could be a solution? Rob notes that when players open the pit, they should be asked whether they want to contribute with three runes. If they click “yes,” they should also receive all the mats at the end. In his opinion, that would be fair.
In the video, Rhykker notes that in Diablo 3, only one key was required to open a rift. People then wanted to grab as many “free rift runs as possible.” The developers then introduced the idea that every participant needs a key. Rob thinks this might come to Diablo 4 as well.
Diablo 4 is “multiplayer-unfriendly”
What do other players say about group play? In the comments under the YouTube video, “lil—-lil” refers to the lack of social features: “Right now, the ONLY way to play in groups is to shout in the trading channel.” And “davidblanche3713” says: “For people who like to play with their friends or even in a clan community, Diablo 4 has become very ‘soloplay’.”
On Reddit, the topic is also addressed. “PlutoISaPlanet” writes about it in his post:
It’s unbelievable how multiplayer-unfriendly this game is.
Why are the rewards in the pit halved just because the initiator made this trivial contribution of 3 [runes]? Do you remember the Greater Rifts in Diablo 3, where everyone needed the currency to enter? […] This game is a collection of hundreds of people playing a single-player game.
In Diablo Immortal, every dungeon entrance has a group finder. This damn mobile game promotes dungeon runs in a hundred ways that [Diablo 4] does not. […]
It’s even difficult to invite random players in the open world to groups. Press W over their character while they dash and teleport, and then there’s no indication whether you just missed them or whether they’re already in a group, or have other crossplay settings, or who knows what else.
Do you play often in a group or do you prefer to go solo? Do you go into the pit with your friends, or do you also find that it’s not worth it? Feel free to leave us your opinion in the comments.
Some players are not only complaining about the mats they get in group play in the pit – or rather don’t get – but especially about the most annoying enemies they encounter there. They would like to leave the endgame activity as soon as they see the enemies in the pit. And these are not the bosses.
