A recent post on the official Diablo 3 forums (thanks Blue's News) by designer Wyatt Cheng has revealed that Blizzard will be focusing on more efficient co-op farming in the next patch for the hack 'n' slash title. While details are still slim on what exactly will be coming in the patch, Cheng stated that the team didn't want to "make multiplayer feel "mandatory" for those who prefer to play solo."

We are looking to improve co-op farming efficiency in 1.0.8. Co-op play in general is a big focus of the 1.0.8 patch and efficiency is definitely one component of that. Co-op is already more efficient for some players, but this is the exception rather than the norm. The degree of co-op efficiency depends heavily on the co-ordination of the party, skill builds, and the relative gear level of the teammates. Since launch we've made some modest changes to encourage co-op play but there's still room to go farther. At the same time, we don't want to go so far as to make multiplayer feel "mandatory" for those who prefer to play solo, but we still want to err on the side of being co-op favorable.

The post also detailed certain hurdles are also effecting the co-op efficiency beyond the raw data such as going back to town to identify items while friends stay in the dungeon fighting. Cheng revealed that an Identify All feature will be making its way into patch 1.08 to fix the issue however didn't elaborate on how exactly it would work.

In a later post Cheng also answered a few questions from posters, clarifying that "dropping less loot on the ground" is not slated for 1.0.8 but will be considered after. Mention of having more players in a party besides the four were also shot down as Cheng outlined that " it has its downsides, and the big one is that the screen becomes so crowded you can't tell what's going on," while also saying "It's important that a player can discern important information from the game world and make tactical decisions based on this information."

No release date has yet been given for patch 1.08 but hopefully we'll start to see more information some time soon. Let us know in the comments below if you are still playing, and whether you are enjoying the latest patch 1.07 or not.