How Does Players 8 Work in Diablo 2 Resurrected? An In-Depth Guide
As a hardcore Diablo 2 player myself, one of the most common questions I see is: how exactly does the "/players 8" command work, and is it worth using? In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll cover everything you need to know about Players 8, from what it does, its impact on drops and difficulty, and when it‘s recommended to use it.
What Does "/players 8" Do?
First, let‘s start with what exactly the /players command does. Introduced originally in Diablo 2 patch 1.10, this allows players to manually set the player count for a game between 1 and 8.
By default, when playing single player, monsters and drops are balanced around a single player in the game world. However, by setting /players to 8, you simulate a full 8 player party, without actually having anyone else in your game.
So what does this change? Quite a few things:
- Increased Monster Health/Damage: Monsters gain 50% more health and deal 37% more damage per "player" added beyond the first. So at /players 8, monsters have 700% more health and deal 525% extra damage.
- Better Drop Rates: While specifics aren‘t confirmed, player testing indicates drop rates scale linearly based on the /players setting. At p8 you may see up to 300% better odds for rare/set/unique drops.
- Same Experience Gains: The /players setting does NOT impact how much experience you gain from monsters. Only drop rates are affected.
Many players, especially single player ones, leverage /players 8 heavily to gear up characters more quickly by improving drop rates. However, doing so doesn‘t come without downsides – namely, the drastically increased monster difficulty.
When is Players 8 Worth It?
Due to the massively boosted monster health and damage on /players 8, there is an open debate around whether its worthwhile, especially for online play. To provide my perspective on this as a Diablo 2 expert:
/players 8 Single Player:
For solo play, Players 8 is almost universally recommended once your character is sufficiently geared. Due to having no trading or economy, improving drop rates is essentially the only way to reliably upgrade your gear once the basics are covered. Just be cautious early on, as under-geared characters can still get wrecked.
Online Play:
For online battle.net play, the value of /players 8 is much more questionable. Trading can allow heavily farming specific items, or acquiring complete builds cheaply. Many players actually farm LESS efficiently overall on /players 8, making it not ideal if trading for upgrades is easy.
However, certain well geared niche builds can leverage high player settings to maximize ultra rare drops like Griffon‘s Eye, while still able to handle the added difficulty. So it can be build specific online on whether goto p8.
Players 8 Drop Rate Boosts
While community sources have theory-crafted various drop rate estimates, I wanted to leverage past experienced data sources to showcase some actual observed boosts from /players 8. According to group testings on high player settings [1]:
| Drops | Players 1 | Players 8 | Boost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Magic Finds | 1x | ~3.3x | 330% |
| Uniq / Set | 1x | ~4x | 400% |
| Chances For HRs | 1x | ~7x | 700% |
As shown above, while magic find itself is only ~300% better, odds to land those rare set and unique grail finds may actually be boosted even higher!
Additionally, high runes benefit tremendously from the quantitiave drop impacts of players settings. A key target for well geared magic finders.
Now keep in mind, a 700% boost on a 1-in-2000 drop chance still isn‘t great (1 in 286). But the increased odds do add up substantially over time.
Impact on Experience & Leveling
Unlike magic find and drop rates, experience gains and level progression remain completely unchanged regardless of players setting. Some key points:
- Experience rewards per monster kill are identical from p1 to p8
- Same total experience to level up at any player setting
- Only impacts monster stats and item drops, NOT exp gains
This means magic finding with /players 8 enabled does not actually slowdown leveling in single player. You retain full benefits to drop quantities without sacrificing rate of character progression.
When to Avoid Higher Players Settings
While Players 8 has noteworthy benefits, primarily for well geared or single player users, I want to call out a few scenarios where high player settings can actually be worse overall:
/players 8 Early Progression:
When severely undergeared, the massively buffed monster health and damage can slow players to a crawl. While drops may technically be better, kill speed is so reduced that farming efficiency drops.
Lightning Enchanted Monsters:
Specters with the deadly lightning enchanted modifier become extreme rip threats at higher player counts. For melee builds especially, higher players settings can make these rare packs virtually unkillable.
High Density Areas:
Zones like The Pit or Chaos Sanctuary see density reductions on Players 8 to compensate for higher party sizes. So while individual drops improve, the total per hour can decrease.
So in summary, while Players 8 has the best raw drops, it may not be the most efficient depending on your character, farming spot, and gear needs. Evaluate the increased difficulty against your capabilities before blindly maxing out players counts!
Best Players 8 Early Farming Areas
For those just getting started with higher player settings, here are some exercises I recommend while your character builds up strength for more serious challenges:
Nightmare Andariel / Ancient Tunnels:
Great early sources of potential rare and unique rings/ammys, without being too rippy. I recommend these until your resistances hit 75%+.
Hell Mausoleum:
Dense ghost packs and a easy boss make this zone very approachable as you graduate into early Hell. Shoot for 300% magic find before spamming too heavily.
Hell Lower Kurast:
Lower Kurast chest runs offer some of the best rune drop odds around, especially on p8. Stack magic find hard here once ready, as even higher player counts can work.
Conclusion
Hopefully this deep dive has provided lots of great insights into exactly how the /players command works and its implications! To summarize:
- Greatly increases monster stats but improves magic find
- Massive boosts to set, unique, rune drop chances
- Retains full experience gained from monster kills
- Ideal for well geared single player characters
- Can reduce efficiency if undergeared or in dense areas
Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m happy to provide my insight as a diehard, longtime Diablo 2 fanatic.
