Why Path of Exile 2 Co-op is a Must Play | First Impressions & How To Play (Couch) Co-op

[@CoopPixels]

🚨Here we will be posting some "Lessons learned" FAQ style that we updated thanks to our community's input, questions and issues. Thank you to all of you for your feedback 🧡- and apologies for any unclear portions of the video. We researched the info we didn't have at hand, but couldn't test everything, especially not the console part. Q: Can you play couch co-op on one console with two accounts logged in, as shown in the GGG footage (video 01:25)? A: No, unfortunately at the moment this does NOT WORK (yet). This info, and the video footage, is by the official Path of Exile 2 channel, where they show and explain this feature, so we (and many others) assumed this would work on EA launch. But it is not implemented yet, and we have no official info on how it will be. Q: Can you combine couch and online co-op? (for example: 2 people on your PS5 and 2 online friends) A: This is causing issues at the moment and seems bugged. You can only play either couch co-op as 2 players, or as a party of online players. Q: I started earlier and now someone wants to join me and catch up. Do I have to start over? A: Yes and No. You could continue to play your high-level character, and enable a setting in the options called "Default Level Downscaling". This way, the stronger gets scaled down and the lower character gets more experience. If this is deactivated, the lower character gets a lot less EXP. Q: Is a PlayStation Plus subscription required to play on PS5? A: No.

[@victoralfonsomanceraosorio4532]

This is the best video I've seen regarding a full, complete analysis of the coop feature of any game! Truly a gem of a channel Subscribed! 🥳

[@CoopPixels]

Thank you so much for your amazing comment! 🫶 Your kind words make the hard work really pay off - we're happy to have you and hope you'll love our future videos as well! ☺️

[@le.domello]

Outstanding job with this guide! Other commenters are right, it's one of the best guide on a game coop mode I've ever watched 🎉

[@CoopPixels]

Wow, so happy you liked it! And thank you so much for your fantastic comment - we really appreciate your kind words 🫶

[@harryw9268]

Amazing work on the guide, thank you!

[@dramavisiongg]

Great video! Got me into it, since it has Couch coop! hope it is smooth as I think it is. And wonderful if it works out for keyboard and a jostick as well, instead of joystick + joystick only. Is this the first time I see two people presenting a video like this? haha it is so nice though! (Makes sense, since the channel is "coop" HAHA. Love it.

[@CoopPixels]

Thank you 🙏 We hope you will enjoy the game! For Early Access the game is already in a great state, so it can only get better the more updates they push. Not sure if keyboard + controller will be an option for couch co-op in the future. As of now, only 2x controller works if you're on one account on PC. That's why we play in online co-op, to keep our keyboard haha. So happy you like our 2-people style, too. It's more fun for us and helps get both our individual perspectives out 😄

[@andruwgreen2531]

So for clarification if I buy the 30$ support pack my wife can play couch co op without buying it on her account and we can play without ps+ correct?

[@CoopPixels]

Yes! If you buy one pack for 30$ on your PS account, your wife can create a character on your account and only needs her own controller to play couch co-op with you. PS+ is not required (stated in the PS Store)

[@tdeseve]

This is amazing, makes me think of Gauntlet dark legacy 2...

[@xjudoflip7381]

Almost impossible to do HC in a duo or more. The difficulty from 1 player, where I one-two shot everything, to two player, where we go oom every pack... it's too much of a difficulty hike.

[@CoopPixels]

Yeah, the scaling is quite steep for duos. Unfortunately mana flasks only recover for the player landing a killing blow which is far from ideal for party-play, especially in big groups. You could experiment with self-regenerating modifiers on flasks and belts (and mana-reg on other equipments). Also, check if you really need a skill on the highest level, as lower levels are often enough and use fewer mana. Lastly, support gems can skyrocket your mana usage too, so optimizing them could work as well. We hope these tips help a bit until they (hopefully) improve this 🤞

[@KillerBite28]

Good video guys! I have a question though: What if I play more than my partner? Then when we play together... where do we end up? Does she get warped further into the game with a weaker character? Or does my higher level character go back to where she is? Does the main quest adjust to the lowest-level player? Thanks for any help! I want to play my main character often without feeling like I've left my partner behind!

[@CoopPixels]

Thank you! The progress is character specific, so if you decide to progress further, she won't have access to the areas you unlocked. However, you will be able to help her with catching up fast, since you will be much stronger than her. You could also make another character that you play exclusively solo, that way you can always progress together and you won't be held back either. (or, if you're massively skilled, you can play both with 2 controllers... good luck 😁)

[@ljjohnson2412]

@CoopPixels❤

[@dustingre8]

So if a friend wants to couch play with one of your two characters and you give them the high level character then it does not lower the secondary level with default level downscaling enabled, correct?

[@dustingre8]

In other words, if you have a level 6 character and a level 17 character, you enable downscaling & let the friend use the 17 character, no downscaling occurs, but if you give him the low level character, both characters would be at level 6, correct?

[@CoopPixels]

In couch co-op, player 2 does not have their own options and settings. As a result, we believe that the "Default Level Downscaling"-option applies to your account as a whole. Meaning, that if the scaling is enabled and one of both characters is higher, that one will be scaled down, no matter who plays them. 🤔

[@dustingre8]

@ Interesting, any tests done to confirm this? I was hoping it wasn’t the case. The way it’s worded seems like it could go either way.

[@CoopPixels]

Without a detailed combat log it's obviously difficult to proof for sure but from what we tried it seemed to work as mentioned above. P2 with the higher character and scaling enabled: weaker P2, P1 got seemingly more exp P2 with the higher character and scaling disabled: stronger P2, P1 got seemingly less exp But agreed, the wording completely leaves out this scenario 😅

[@brunizimbello9253]

great video guys! so it means that i can't play coach co op with my partner if he plays in pc and i play in ps5..?

[@CoopPixels]

Thanks you! There is no "need" for couch co-op, if you both already have an account each, you can just join each other in online co-op. However, if you prefer couch co-op over online co-op you just need one account and can create both your characters on that single account. Having two console accounts would even allow you to login both simultaneously on one console, but that's not possible with the mix of ps5- and pc-accpimt unfortunately.

[@markojagar6658]

Hy when i wann play with my frend on my tv there are only my charekters he cant chose his from his acount ??? Cann you fix this?

[@CoopPixels]

Currently, this feature isn't available in Early Access it seems. Couch co-op only works on one account across all platforms, so your friend will need to create their character on your account (or vice versa). This is disappointing, and we feel the developers should have clarified it pre-launch. The 2-account console setup in our video is from Grinding Gear Games' official footage, which we trusted would work - but couldn't test, as we only have 2 PC accounts. We hope they address this soon, along with other co-op issues, especially for console players. Apologies we couldn't provide a solution. 😞

[@markojagar6658]

@CoopPixels yea its sucks

[@NTEP49]

Do you have any work around for endgame

[@CoopPixels]

Could you elaborate on what you mean by workaround for endgame? Any specific parts of endgame or tips in general?

[@arakasius00]

It’s pretty much broken. It switches your characters sides. One player can’t interact with loot. It has no loot filter so the loot is not manageable. Not to mention consoles are an unoptimized mess so mapping will pretty much kill you anyway. The campaign was fine but this review just seems to be a shallow review of the system without getting into cruel or maps. It’s pretty much broken level 50 and beyond. Not to mention that even before then they do an extremely poor job with allowing the 2nd player any autonomy over merchant interaction.

[@CoopPixels]

Are these issues with loot, switching, and so on happening for you on consoles? As we stated in the video, we only play on PC and we didn't have any of these problems when testing PC couch co-op directly at Early Access launch. Afterwards, we switched to 2 accounts. This video seems shallow to you, because it is not a full review. That's why we titled it a "First Impressions & How to play co-op". When we made it, 4 weeks ago, none of us had even closely touched endgame or cruel, and we will not talk about systems we haven't seen and tested ourselves. We totally understand your frustration with it, and see it similiarly - there are many issues right now that need urgent fixing, but GGG will not be able to implement that overnight. Bugs are never fun, but this is still Early Access, so some problems were to be expected and we will probably have to wait just a little longer. We hope that especially consoles will get fixes soon, since for you guys it seems to be even worse.

[@dasein1592]

Can you play 2 locally on console and another online?

[@CoopPixels]

At the moment, this is still bugged, so unfortunately no.

[@loismen15]

Hi guys, great video. Were you able to make a party with both 2 players coop and friends online? I created a party for both me and my girlfriend (on a PS5, same account) but then I cannot see my friends online, I can't accept invites. Any workaround?

[@CoopPixels]

Hi there, thanks! :) We faced similar issues, yes. Inviting others from our couch co-op session didn't work at first (it displays "The party does not exists" in the background). However, the other way around worked just fine. We also tried this again just now and it seems to work both ways now (we added the other to the friend list before and let p1 invite, maybe thats also important). Maybe there is also some technical issue currently - but in theory, this should work. We hope you can figure it out!

[@Steve-u3b]

Same, the couch co-op is so fun with gf, but would even be better for us to play online. I hope they work this into the game soon. It doesn’t work yet!

[@CoopPixels]

This seems to be a console specific issue. Unfortunately we can't help you there, since we only have the PC versions, but fingers crossed they fix it soon for you guys! 😊

[@kikes1850]

If I'm at a higher level than my friend do monster lvl scale ? I don't want to fully overpower

[@CoopPixels]

Not the monsters, but your character will scale if you enable it in the settings: Options -> Game -> Default Level Downscaling 😊

[@thomasnguyen4427]

finally, a video essay and not a clickbait forced hype build this/that nonsense!

[@iiDefied]

0:58 when are you allowed to access this screen? Do you need to complete the tutorial first? I tried getting split screen to work and this screen doesn’t even come up.

[@CoopPixels]

You need to connect two controllers and press A (Xbox) or X (PlayStation) on both of them. This works from the start - you can even create a new character in this screen if you like 😊 If it doesn't automatically recognize your controllers, you can select them in the options menu -> input.

[@iiDefied]

@ it doesn’t work

[@kayyumgeliyeahh]

do i need ps plus to play it?

[@CoopPixels]

According to the PlayStation Store, no, you don't need it. Since it is set to become free to play eventually, this will likely never happen.

[@tkharris4900]

Console doesn't allow you to use 2 different accounts. It forces me to use my wife's account while I try to play with her.

[@CoopPixels]

Yes that's correct - the developer explained it would work that way, but currently it doesn't unfortunately. As we mentioned in another post, we hope they fix this issue soon, fingers crossed 🤞

[@tkharris4900]

Yeah im hoping, I have multiple consoles but sometimes the kids use one of them so this was our alternative way and she's just beginning while I'm almost in act 3 I do not want to start over lol.

[@justynakowalska7743]

It's shit comparing to d4 make it better. Is full of bugs