How to play with friends?

[Chance]

Title, I added my friend, did a link party, did a private lobby and I joined through the lobby ID but I can't see them or join them on their quests/hunts. I literally have no idea what to do because this is super confusing.

Edit: I just got done escorting y'sai back to his village - do I need to go further?

[Emerald Lance]

You can't queue up for story missions with friends. You have to join them while they are mid mission, after they've actually started fighting the monster. And even then, you also need to have started fighting that monster by yourself on your own mission first, then quit your mission, then wait for your friend to get to the same point, THEN join them in the middle of their mission.

It's dumb. Once you're past all the story missions, you will be able to queue together for anything.

[TheBlueFox]

The most reliable way to play with someone is to form a Link party.

A link party does NOT need to be in the same server, you're just in your own little group together. But this also means you cannot see eachother in the towns. That's fine though, you can go on quests together.

To go on quests together, once you're in a link party, have one player start the quest. Link parties AUTOMATICALLY get invited to any quests, but in the case it doesn't happen, you can head to the quest giver, and choose the option "Link Member Quests" (Or "Server quests" if they're in the same server as you.)

You should see a list of quests made by people either in your link party or server, depending. And you can choose that to join in on.

Story quests cannot be joined in on until a certain point. But optionals. Events, and investigations can be

[Lx Studio]

When you are in the same Lobby, you should be able to see each other in town. Any quests posted/active can be joined via Alma > Lobby Member quest.

When in a Link Party, when any of you initiate a quest (when it actually starts, such as after you hit a monster with enough damage so the Quest Begin texts flash on your screen), other link members will receive a pop up to join said quest quickly. Link party is particularly useful when you still have story missions that require you to talk to an NPC (with certain cutsceens) before the hunt actually begins. Any quests posted can also be joined via Alma > Linked Member quest.

If you all want to wonder the world together (ie outside of town), you will have to use Environment Link.

The best way I find is joining each other in a Private Lobby via Lobby ID, then add each other to Link Party and stay in the same town (you can see each other's location in Members List)

[AJ Dandy]

been trying to play with a friend last night and it was so complicated to do quests together,
I wish it went back to the old way to invite friends and play together. will the new gather hub update fix this?

[Zerostrikesback]

Originally posted by AJ Dandy:

been trying to play with a friend last night and it was so complicated to do quests together,
I wish it went back to the old way to invite friends and play together. will the new gather hub update fix this?

Nope, its a story design issue. Capcom's focus on cinema is getting in the way. We can hope the Title Updates dont contain story, but thats all we have.