The exciting Path of Exile 2 Early Access has been released for nearly a month, and as the latest sequel to a classic MMO game that has been around for more than a decade, POE 2 did not disappoint players this time. Whether it is a complete story narrative, diverse gameplay, or beautiful and gorgeous visual effects, it brings players a brand new experience.
However, here we will mainly focus on the couch and online co-op modes in POE 2. We will talk about our first impressions of the mechanism, how it works, and how to set it up.
How Does Co-op Mode Work?
First, let’s talk about the price tag and its relationship with co-op mode.
Although the full version of Path of Exile 2 will be free to play for players, you need to spend some money to experience Early Access. You either have a consumption record of nearly $500 in POE 1, or pay for each Supporter Packs of at least $30.
However, playing co-op doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend $30 each, you can play in normal online co-op on separate accounts, and in local couch co-op as well.
So, if you plan on playing as a two-player team in local co-op, one account will suffice. The second player can create their character on the host’s account, or choose one of the host’s already existing characters.
There is a minor side effect to this, though, because all POE 2 Currency, characters, and other resources technically belong to the host, so you’ll also have access to everything the host has unlocked from the cash shop on all characters. If you have your own account, you can also log into that account and access your own roster of characters while playing local couch co-op, but this only works on consoles.
Now onto the visual presentation. Local co-op isn’t split-screen. You and your friend still share a screen, even on PC, as there’s currently no Steam Remote Play. The first player’s character determines where the screen goes. If player 2’s character is about to fall out of the screen, they’ll be dragged along, as if being led by an invisible string. The same is true if player 2 is currently on a menu.
For the menu, opening the menu with both characters while outside of town will pause the game. You can also go full screen for the menu, which completely disables the other player’s controls until you’re done.
Co-op Setup
Then you might be wondering how to set up couch co-op.
Using Controllers
First, on consoles, you’ll need two controllers. But this also applies to PC, as playing the game on a keyboard at the same time is impossible. You can choose any controller you like, both PlayStation and Xbox are fine, and wired or wireless doesn’t matter.
Once you’re on the character screen, just press the confirmation button that appears on both controllers, and the two character selections will pop up. You can choose from there and log in.
Note that if this is your first time playing the game with a controller, it can be a little tricky at first, as there are a lot of UI shortcuts to get familiar with.
For UI, note that UI is scaled down a lot when playing couch co-op, so keep that in mind when playing on a small screen, as elements may be hard to make out.
Joining A Party
Of course, your party may not be limited to just 2 players. In fact, you can form a team of up to 6. To do this, go into Social tab and invite more friends to join your team. Alternatively, you can create a public party and have other players join you, or you can join them yourself.
Most social features are only available once you reach the first town, which takes about 5 minutes. And on the map outside of town, you’ll only encounter players who are currently on your team.
You may be wondering if you can play with friends on other platforms, and the answer is yes. Path of Exile 2 offers full cross-platform play support, so whether you’re playing on PC, PlayStation, or Xbox, you can enjoy playing alongside your friends.
How Does Playing Co-op Differ?
In terms of difficulty, aside from the obvious difficulty setting you play in, the size of your party is a determining factor in how the game plays.
You might think that more players would make it easier, but the opposite is true. Because for each additional player, the base health of enemies increases by 50%. While Path of Exile 2 Currency and XP dropped for completing missions also increase, killing enemies in a group still gives you less XP than killing them alone. And you only get XP when you’re about 2 screens away from your target.
Conversely, monsters will become stronger regardless of where your teammates are, as long as they are on the same map, so keep that in mind.
Lastly, potions will only regenerate when a player kills an enemy, which can put you in a difficult position when you are too low in health to hit an enemy.
Tips To Play Co-op Mode
Choosing A Class
With all of that out of the way, you’re ready for your first challenge: choosing a class! In Early Access, you can choose between 6 character classes, all of which are gender-locked: Warrior, Sorceress, Ranger, Monk, Mercenary, and Witch.
Currently, each class has two Ascendancy classes. These are specializations that further customize your preferred play style. For example, a Witch can choose to become an Infernalist, commanding an Infernal Hound and morphing into a demonic form, or a Blood Mage, sacrificing life to gain attack and defense magic.
So, after choosing a class and logging in, you can immediately start adventuring together while playing couch co-op.
Guaranteed Completion Of Tutorial By All Teammates
When playing online co-op, you will find yourself in phases whenever not everyone has completed the tutorial, so keep that in mind. After completing the short introductory mission, you will enter the first player hub! From here, you can take on more story missions and venture out to explore.
One thing to mention is that if you progress to different points in the story, the slower-progressing character will not be able to access areas of the already more advanced character. However, doing missions and progressing together works very well, as missions and dialogue are displayed to both parties when playing couch co-op.
In-Party Interactions
So, what other interactions are possible besides doing missions and fighting together?
- Swap Items: You can swap items with each other at any point in time to help each other prepare. This is especially useful if one of you can’t resist the urge to monopolize all the loot right away.
- Revive Teammates: If one of you goes down in battle, you can revive him if you have the chance!
- Quick Teleport: You can also create town portals, which your teammates can use to teleport to you.
- Hideout System: We also have the hideout system again, which is a form of player housing that others can also visit.
- Chat: There are no emotes or voice chat here, so you’ll have to rely on text chat or external tools for coordination. Obviously, you’ll only need this if you’re playing online.
Main Quest
The main quest progression is the same as we’ve described before. The early stages of the game and the main gameplay loop are just what you’d expect from a game of this genre: kill armies of monsters, level up, unlock more powerful skills, and progress through your skill tree.
Monsters drop level-specific gear and orbs of varying rarities with different random modifiers, which you can further improve with special items. This continues until the end of the game, only with increased difficulty and variety. But trust me, there’s nothing like the satisfaction of seeing a bunch of POE 2 Exalted Orbs and rare items rolling off a boss!
Endgame
After completing the story, you’ll have access to a wide variety of endgame activities. However, these activities are only unlocked once you’ve reached the level cap of 65. However, since the full version will have 6 acts that reward you with XP you need to reach the highest level, however, there are only 3 acts in Early Access, which means you have to play the story a second time on a higher difficulty Cruel.
This will take you about 40 hours in total. Once you reach the required level, you will have access to the endgame activities, which mainly take place in your Atlas of Worlds. You can make and advance these maps, thus stumbling upon different activities. These can all be played cooperatively, and everyone will be rewarded for doing so. However, this will only progress for Atlas that provides it.
Personal Opinion
Finally, let’s talk about our personal opinion about this. I have to say that I really like the clever workings of the couch co-op mode. It is well designed and allows you to share the experience with anyone instantly without complicated settings or additional payments. The dark and scary atmosphere here, the sound and music design match this perfectly.
So if you like action RPGs, dark game worlds and abundant loot, POE 2 may be worth your consideration, it is suitable for both casual players and hardcore veterans. More importantly, in the new game, GGG has done a good job of lowering the entry barrier for new players while maintaining the difficulty and challenge for veterans.
Of course, if you don’t like repeating the main story or playing desperately to get through the ending, or you don’t like paying for a product that is ultimately free, then this game may not be for you.
In any case, if you can’t wait to play POE 2 cooperative mode now, I hope this guide can bring you some valuable suggestions and tips. Good luck!
