Pillars of Eternity Multiplayer in the works?

[alexis13]

Hey is Multiplayer in the works? so many people wanted it and whilst I'm not sure, surely it can't be hard to add some online? don't even need servers, just give us the IP option for people ot use LAN and its basically just the main game but with anotehr real person controlling another custom companion of their own design.

 

It doesn't seem to complex to add, it was just a simple extra party member controlled by friends over the internet for the BG/NWN/IWD games.

 

Are you guys thinking about adding it? I actually put off buying this game for months because it simply didn't have it, you could get a LOT more sales and I'm dying to play it with my friends, we are all dying to play it toghether.

[Rosveen]

surely it can't be hard to add some online? 

A line of code here, new interface there... I'm sure it's something Josh could put together during his lunch break.

[wanderon]

No!

[majestic]

 

surely it can't be hard to add some online? 

A line of code here, new interface there... I'm sure it's something Josh could put together during his lunch break.

 

 

Don't be silly, adding network functionality/multiplayer to a design never intended for it is so simple you can have an intern do it. Why bother JE with it at all?

 

edit:

 

To be a little more serious alexis13, no, adding multiplayer to PoE would not be trivial and most likely, given the target audience of the game, would not lead to enough new sales to justify the expenses and problems.

Edited August 3, 2015 by majestic

[Zekram Bogg]

I . . . just, why?

 

Why is MP so critical for a purchase for people in this type of genre? I mean, I really don't see the appeal.

 

PoE is a story-driven, character interaction focused CRPG. What possible benefit would there be to adding Multiplayer, and how would it even work considering the nature of the Companion characters and battle system?

 

I mean, what would MP PoE look like?

 

I hop into someone else's world, where my PC, Eder, Aloth, Durance, Sagani, and Kana team up with another person's PC, Eder, Aloth, Durance, Grieving Mother, and Hiravias so we can double team Xaurip mobs in Caed Nua?

 

OK, setting aside the fact that we've now got a bunch of doubled clone characters - how does the battle system work in real-time online? When I pause to issue commands am I on a timer? It pauses the other player's game too, right? How many more enemies do we have to add to fights to make them not totally steam-rollable with 2 different party's on them at once? 4 times as many enemies?

 

Or is it just an arena mode so I can take my level 12 team of heroes against your level 12 team of heroes? Like, that's not even that bad of an idea if there were to be PoE MP, but is that REALLY so appealing an idea that it becomes a make or break decision on whether or not to purchase the game?

 

I just really don't understand the "MP or no purchase" mentality I guess. Like, do you need MP in Telltale Adventure games too?

[BAdler]

Hello, everyone. Multiplayer is not currently planned for PoE or The White March. If we do a sequel, who knows? That said, it is pretty unlikely we will do it. We have a ton of other features that would probably be more well received by the Pillars community.

[Strange_Trees]

If any sales are being held back by the lack of multiplayer, I highly doubt that all of those "potential" sales combined would cover even a fraction of the cost of developing such a system.

[R.Alexander]

I don't understand why people who backed/support a game which used Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, games that had multiplayer, as its main draw be so against mp in PoE. I don't personally care if it has it or not, but I just don't understand why some seem so against it.

[DragonKingReborn]

I don't understand why people who backed/support a game which used Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, games that had multiplayer, as its main draw be so against mp in PoE. I don't personally care if it has it or not, but I just don't understand why some seem so against it.

 

Can't speak for anyone besides myself, obviously, but for me - it's because MP tends to become the focus, rather than another way of enjoying the game.  It is also more open to abuse by things such as microtransactions.

 

Look at Dragon Age: Inquisition...the developers claim that MP actually improved the SP experience, although the combat in Inquisition is - in my view - the worst of the three games in that series.

 

Perhaps if there was story mode co-op, people here might be more receptive (I don't know that they would, but maybe).  But it seems that - other than Sword Coast Legends - every game that features MP does so as a separate mode.

 

Would Obsidian consider doing campaign co-op as opposed to a separate MP mode?  Don't know, but - and while PoE is clearly running against the current of industry trends - it would seem unlikely.

 

For me, if it includes a 'separate' MP mode, whether 'not required' - like Mass Effect 3, or 'not required, but totally preferred' like Dragon Age: Inquisition, I would be against it, merely on principle.  If it includes a campaign co-op mode, which allows another way of enjoying the main story....sure, why not?

[Cantousent]

I'm glad folks are keeping it friendly and cool. I won't reiterate the arguments folks have made against using resources on MP other than to point out that I agree with them. Specifically, I don't want folks to be denied something they want, but I'm much more interested in the things *I* want, and those entail aspects more in line with the single player experience.

[Ink Blot]

I don't understand why people who backed/support a game which used Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, games that had multiplayer, as its main draw be so against mp in PoE. I don't personally care if it has it or not, but I just don't understand why some seem so against it.

As its 'main draw'? I'll admit, if they added multiplayer a la BG/BG2/IWD?IWD2, it wouldn't bother me (although I'd never use it). But not sure I agree it was the main draw of the old IE games.

[Lorfean]

I don't understand why people who backed/support a game which used Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, games that had multiplayer, as its main draw be so against mp in PoE. I don't personally care if it has it or not, but I just don't understand why some seem so against it.

Not sure if you're trolling but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

 

Multiplayer was nowhere near the biggest draw in the IE games -- story, exploration, combat, companions and graphics are the main features most people point out when talking about the appeal of these games. MP was a bonus. Some people reply enjoyed it, yes, but it was never a focus or main feature. It was for the NWN series. Not for the IE games.

Edited August 4, 2015 by Lorfean

[gkathellar]

multiplayer, as its main draw

 

Noooooooooope

 

 

be so against mp in PoE

 

"It's unlikely, difficult, and would be a waste of money" =/= "I oppose it"

[Lord_Mord]

 

Why is MP so critical for a purchase for people in this type of genre? I mean, I really don't see the appeal.

 

PoE is a story-driven, character interaction focused CRPG. What possible benefit would there be to adding Multiplayer, and how would it even work considering the nature of the Companion characters and battle system?

 

I can't speak for others and personally I would prefer other features. But I would enjoy a MP, too. I played a heavily modded BG for about 8 years with my girdlfriend in multiplayer again and again and it would be very nice to have the option to play PoE together, too. Of course it is stupid, the story of the game is so much single player. But I'm nostalgic. Would be fun to kill that ****ing adra-dragon together. Maybe it's just me and all the "We want multiplayer"-guys are in fact hyperactive WoW-kiddies that use computergames as chat platforms, I don't know.

[R.Alexander]

People misunderstood what I was trying to say. I was saying the games were the draw for people to support PoE, not multiplayer was the draw for those games hence the commas. I was just stating the games that were used to market this one had mp, but I never heard anyone say it ruined those games, only that it added to the experience.

[gkathellar]

but I never heard anyone say it ruined those games, only that it added to the experience.

Has anyone said it would ruin PoE? Because all I've seen people say is that it would be difficult, costly, and yield little benefit.

[View619]

No, it's an unnecessary waste of resources when there are so many other additions that could be made to enhance the core game. Multi-player in IE games was a bonus and not a deal-breaker, it would yield very little benefit in POE.

Edited August 4, 2015 by View619

[WorstUsernameEver]

If it could eventually be done it'd be pretty cool, I think, but I don't see it fitting the current design. Maybe in an Icewind Dale-like spin-off...

[Cantousent]

Whaddayano? I thought this thread would devolve into the usual MP backbiting bitterness and rancor, but it's pretty level headed. I, for one, understood your position, R.Alexander. I think most of the 'anti-multiplayer' crowd, which includes me, would be happy to have it included if we weren't worried that it would do one of two things:

 

1. use resources. Really, I would want even trivial resources to go to enhancing the SP game in any way possible before going toward MP

 

and, even more important to my mind,

 

2. change the nature of the game. I don't want my single player game to accommodate multiplayer utility in any way at all.

 

With all that said, I won't be one of the bomb throwers if Obsidz decides to include MP in the next game. I'd figure the other side will merely have come out on top on that issue, but it would certainly cause me concern.

[wanderon]

MP was pretty atrocious in the IE games to begin with - as I recall it was more or less cobbled on as an afterthought near the end and I seriously doubt anyone would be satisfied with that sort of implementation for PoE MP.

 

Still my biggest objection is there is never going to come a time when there is nothing left in the single player games that resources could be spent on to make the game better and that's exactly where I want those resources to go.

 

Not every game on the planet needs an MP play option. 

[Ink Blot]

Whaddayano? I thought this thread would devolve into the usual MP backbiting bitterness and rancor, but it's pretty level headed. I, for one, understood your position, R.Alexander. I think most of the 'anti-multiplayer' crowd, which includes me, would be happy to have it included if we weren't worried that it would do one of two things:

 

1. use resources. Really, I would want even trivial resources to go to enhancing the SP game in any way possible before going toward MP

 

and, even more important to my mind,

 

2. change the nature of the game. I don't want my single player game to accommodate multiplayer utility in any way at all.

 

With all that said, I won't be one of the bomb throwers if Obsidz decides to include MP in the next game. I'd figure the other side will merely have come out on top on that issue, but it would certainly cause me concern.

Yeah, if it were designed with multiplayer from the get-go that would be one thing, but to 'cobble' it in afterward (as Wanderon noted) would not be ideal, IMO.

[Crucis]

I'm with those who oppose adding MP to PoE.  Every dollar spent on MP is a dollar that isn't being spent on improving the game itself.  And that's the biggest reason for opposing MP, perhaps in the end, the only reason that matters.

[Gary1986]

I'm with those who oppose adding MP to PoE.  Every dollar spent on MP is a dollar that isn't being spent on improving the game itself.  And that's the biggest reason for opposing MP, perhaps in the end, the only reason that matters.

 

But wouldnt that money be recouped by people buying the game due to multiplayer? So basically it would pay for itself. The only factor implementing multiplayer would take up would be time. It'd take time away from improving single player by implementing multiplayer.

[majestic]

 

I'm with those who oppose adding MP to PoE.  Every dollar spent on MP is a dollar that isn't being spent on improving the game itself.  And that's the biggest reason for opposing MP, perhaps in the end, the only reason that matters.

 

But wouldnt that money be recouped by people buying the game due to multiplayer? So basically it would pay for itself. The only factor implementing multiplayer would take up would be time. It'd take time away from improving single player by implementing multiplayer.

 

 

Fiscally, adding multiplayer would only make sense if the market potential outweighs the financial risk of more post-mortem major feature adding, bugfixing, more patches and added testing overhead in a meaningful way by adding enough sales or if you plan to profit from microtransactions during multiplayer. I don't see either happening for PoE. The former simply because the target audience is too different and the latter would be akin to commiting PR-suicide.

[wanderon]

From all my years on the IE games forums I never recall any substantial group of players who only used the MP portion of the game (and thus only purchased it due to MP) and thus I am not at all convinced that MP sales could ever justify taking resources from the SP game from a sales standpoint.