'''Cooperative play''' is the playing of [[PvE]] together with other players. It's  One of the main focus development mantras of the Diablo 3 team was, "do no harm to co-op." and they made many changes to Diablo 2 game systems in the furtherance of this goal. Co-op improvements include: * Individual item drops. (Players see only the items they can pick up, so no more [[ninja]]-looting.)* No more non-consensual [[PvP]]. (No [[PK]] switch.)* No more party system. (Players are automatically in a party together if they are in the same game.)* Improved [[Friends List]] features on [[Battle.net]]. While these features are definitely boosts to co-op, some fans have pointed out that they're more about the removal of anti-co-op features, rather than actual benefits to it. On that side of the coin, Diablo 3has some areas with fewer co-op bonuses than were present in Diablo 2. * Max players per game is lowered from 8 to 4.* The [[experience]] gained no longer scales up hugely with more players.** [[Monsters]]do still gain more hit points, though.* There are many fewer [[shared skill]]s in Diablo III. (Many [[Auras]] and involuntary [[PvPWarcries]] shared in Diablo 2, while most [[Necromancer]] [[Curses]] were of benefit to all characters in the vicinity.)* Diablo 3's [[quest]] encounters system strongly encourages all players in the same game to play on the same quest. (This can be seen as a pro and a con as it concentrates the players in the same area, but makes it less likely that friends with much different level characters to play in the same game, but not in the same area.)  ==Blizzard on Co-Op== While the developers talk constantly about wanting to encourage co-op, they have very little to say in terms of actual benefits or game changes from party play. Faster killing speed from cooperation is just about their only argument. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/bonuses-to-co-op-in-d3] <blue>Bashiok: Faster killing speed means more drops, more drops means more power or money. Since the goal of the game essentially boils down to either power or wealth, or both, the advantage (in our opinion) is pretty clear and doesn’t need any additional incentive.</blue>  See the [[PKMultiplayer]]article for more details on co-ing) will not take placeop and related issues.