Dungeon Siege III will have co-op XP

Last month, word got around that the co-op in Dungeon Siege III wouldn't offer any XP rewards to players who were dropping into another person's game.

Last month, word got around that the co-op in Dungeon Siege III wouldn't offer any XP rewards to players who were dropping into another person's game. Co-op players were deemed to be guests in the host player's worlds; and as a mere assistant to the main player would receive no reward at all for questing and killing enemies. It has now been revealed that is is not strictly true; XP will be awarded to characters, but the character in question be be used exclusively for co-operative games, and XP and loot cannot be transferred to a single-player campaign character. Read on for the full details.

Talking to Destructoid, Obsidian's associate producer Nathan Davis said: "Dungeon Siege III's cooperative multiplayer mode is designed to be easily accessible and allow for a drop-in, drop-out multiplayer structure,"

"To bring this vision to fruition while maintaining both the deep story-based experience of the game and the balance of characters versus enemies, your single player characters will be distinct from your multiplayer characters -- however both can be persistently grown, equipped and adventured with over multiple game sessions.

Davis explained that this separation was needed to keep balance in the game, and to keep the narrative completely immersive. "There's no question that the ability to carry entirely persistent character data around can be fun, but it also presents a number of unique challenges including those from a balance and storytelling perspective," he said. "When you join a multiplayer game in Dungeon Siege III, if someone is already playing Lucas or Anjali, you will not be able to play as that same character simply because it does not make any sense from a storytelling perspective."