Blizzard admits multiplayer in Diablo III is "not living up to its full potential."

Diablo III patch 1.0.8 will improve the experience of playing cooperatively, Blizzard has said.

In the upcoming patch, which is currently available on the game's public test realm, Blizzard intends to make co-operative play more appealing by adding matchmaking tags, additional bonuses to playing multiplayer, a decrease in the amount of health monsters get when more players join a game, a new Identify All command, combat alerts, and private chat.

Senior technical game designer Wyatt Cheng said that the RPG isn't currently as good in multiplayer as the developer would like. "From day one, it…s been our goal to make Diablo III a great co-op experience," said Cheng, "but right now it's not living up to its full potential. Even if you enjoy playing with your friends, it can often feel easier and more efficient to play solo."

While Cheng describes the co-op experience as "awesome" and beneficial to players in some areas, he adds that it comes with disadvantages "like having to coordinate where you're walking and what you're attacking, losing your followers, and trying to find groups that have similar goals to yours without a defined matchmaking system in place."

"The point is that multiplayer can be lot of fun, but given the downsides it can often feel not worth the effort," concludes Cheng, before asking players to provide feedback on what else Blizzard could do to make the co-op portion of Diablo III more appealing.

More details about Diablo III's 1.0.8 patch are available on Blizzard's site.

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