With Diablo 3 expected to be released on the PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4, it’s understandable some of you PC players are upset by this news considering you have yet to get the experience you’ve been wanting since its release, especially in its co-op play. Blizzard is aware of this and has revealed its plans to improve this experience in its 1.0.8 update.
The news comes straight from Blizzard’s Wyatt Cheng as he says the team will implementing a number of improvements, one of which is called Matchmaking Tags. “Patch 1.0.8 introduces the ability to specify what we call a “matchmaking tag” for Public Games,” Cheng explains. “The way this new system will work is pretty simple: in addition to selecting a difficulty, quest, and MP level, you can also select a tag that will identify what kind of gameplay you’re looking for from a Public Game.”
An XP buff for multiplayer play will also be introduced in update 1.0.8. “Many players have already figured out that if you coordinate well with your party, you’re more efficient. That’s definitely true, but we’d like this benefit to be more explicit,” said Cheng. “So, we’re going to straight up add a bonus for playing in multiplayer. We’re still working on the details of what that buff is going to be, but at the moment we’re looking at 10% more XP per extra player in the game for a maximum bonus of 30% more XP in a 4-player game.”
Some other changes are also planned in update 1.0.8 which will rebalance Diablo 3’s co-op difficulty by reducing monster health during co-op play, Combat Alerts for Elite pack encounters, an “identify all” function and a “Players Near You” function which will find local network players.