Even with instanced loot set in hosting, soul echoes are visible for both player.
And it doesn’t drop more of them because of more players.
Considering that once the builds are done it is the main thing to farm now and such behavior completely destroys multiplayer, since there is no reason to play in party.
I also noticed this issue. I was playing with a friend, and I was getting far fewer Soul Echoes than he was. After observing for a while, I realized it was because he was using a melee build. The moment monsters dropped Soul Echoes, he would pick them up immediately, while I could only pick up the ones he missed from behind.
The problem is not that he picks them up. The problem is that the loot doesn’t split between players.
And the worst of all, it doesn’t drop more soul echoes if you play online.
If your goal is to farm echoes you are wasting your time playing with a friend. You would be twice more efficient if you play separately.
The current echo system kills multiplayer.
UPD: Seems like it was changed in the latest patch.
All good now.