Is there a time any of you lurkers...

[Thenryb]

I agree with Cytrex-I would limit players to 3 because of lag and desync issues on Kali. Multiple players of the same class are not generally a good idea. This is particularly true with Barbarians. Melee friendly hit is a feature of the Dark. Thus, if you have two or three barbarians in the same game, it will be very difficult for them not to hit one another inadvertently, and a high level Barbarian is a one-hit killer. The 4 warrior hell/hell clears often popular in Diablo are not suited for the Dark. On the other hand, multiple rogue games with experienced players seems to work fine. Frankly, I think the best game is a two player game with one melee character and one shooter. A three person game with one shooter and two melee characters also works fine, particularly if one of the melee characters is a warrior or monk who has a chance of blocking an inadvertent friendly hit from a barbarian. Friendly hit can usually be avoided if the Barbarian aims "behind" the monster instead of "at" the monster and is generally not a factor in most areas of the game. In hell/abyss it is most likely to present a problem unless characters carefully coop and move SLOWLY. Experience is shared so there is no reason to "hog" kills to get "tags" as long as you are on the same level. Some levels are melee and some are mostly ranged. If you are a barbarian cooping with a rogue on a ranged level. let her take the laboring oar and use restraint. Vice versa if you are a rogue on a melee level.

Cytrex is also correct when he says that no single character can comfortably solo Hell/abyss. The exception to this is a mage who uses Doom Serpents and elemental, both of which are "bugged" and do far more damage than intended. These spells (particularly doom serpents) are those which courteous mages do not use in coop.