Coming in February - Public Co-Op Lobbies and more

[p]LORTers,[/p][p][/p][p]We said we would listen to your feedback and incorporate it into future updates. One clear piece of feedback has been around public co-op lobbies. We didn't think people would want to group up and play with randoms as much as we have seen and heard. Thanks for bringing this to our attention and we're happy to announce we have quickly pivoted and are working on a solution that will come in February.[/p][p][/p][p]Below is a screenshot of how you will be able to browse and join public co-op lobbies.[/p][p][/p][p]Some answers to questions you may have:[/p]

• [p]When starting your own run, you will be prompted on whether you want that to be Private (friends and lobby codes only) or Public (appearing on the lobby browser for anyone to join).[/p]
• [p]Host controls that currently exist in-game (reach these via Esc menu) will also work for Public lobbies which allows you to limit how many people can join, if the lobby is locked or unlocked, and be able to kick players. There is also two new settings in Host controls that allows you to switch a lobby between Private and Public and also ban players. [/p]
• [p]This will introduce some new problems that you should be aware of:[/p]
  • [p]Matches are scaled based on how many players are in when you leave the camps via the van. If someone leaves mid-level, the scaling remains based on how many players started the level.[/p]
    • [p]We would like to make this scaling adjust more dynamically in the future. We had originally planned for people to play solo or with friends, so this was not anticipated as something we would need initially. [/p]
  • [p]Currently, you can have players join while you are mid-run at each camp and will be able to with Public lobbies as well. When people do this, they are very behind in attributes/powerups/weapons/gold. In the future, we would like to find a way to allow late joiners to catch up mid-run. No promises, but we will try our best. [/p]
  • [p]We know people do be snatching other player's powerups without their permission from chests and bosses - very rude behavior. We will monitor issues like this to see how impactful they may become. Our original intent was you would be goofing around with friends who you know well, but random players online will obviously behave a bit differently...[/p]

[p]Many PvE games we have played have been able to foster quite a helpful and polite community, not just on Discord but also in Public lobbies. We would like that to be the same for LORT. Please, help your fellow LORTers out, be kind, and just have a good time.[/p][p][/p][p]Oh, and the Rogue + Daggers update that was planned for Q2 2026 will come in the same update as the Public lobbies in February. We told you, we cookin over here.[/p][p][/p][h3]Next Update after February[/h3][p]We are and will continue to listen to your feedback to find out what you want most for LORT while we continue to keep making new content for the game. After the February update, our sights are set on difficulty and what our options are to solve that for you as quickly as possible.[/p][p][/p][p]LORT me once, shame on you. LORT me twice, you're my new best friend. [/p]