Sometimes in a party I don't feel like it is.. is it really shared?
is heat shared?
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Heat
To seek out points that might answer your question regarding "sharing" heat (not sure what you meant though):
(...)
Any time one [ember] is picked up by a player, its value is given to each knight in that player's team.
(...)
A player that dies in a level will lose 30% of the heat they had collected so far. Should that player be revived by another player, the lost 30% will be given to the rescuer.
In other words: you don't get more heat going solo, or less heat going in a party. Heat isn't split among party members. Every party member gets all of it. And then those party members that revive others receive a portion of the revived party member's heat.
Hope this helps. :)
Actually you get more heat in a party compared to solo due to more monsters which means more heat is dropped.
"Using Heat
Upon successfully reaching the exit elevator of a level, your acquired heat is automatically applied to all of the equipment you are currently wearing. "
So, does this mean that if I purposefully equip a level 10 armor and helm that my weapons will level faster?
Heat is not shared. When you kill a monster, it seems that the heat is going to just one person but actually it goes to everyone. The same goes with coins, if you stand far from a treasure chest and let another player hit it, you will find that the coins fly to the other player but the amount of coins under the map of your account increases.
So, does this mean that if I purposefully equip a level 10 armor and helm that my weapons will level faster?
Yes, Heat is not applied to a level 10 equip.
^ See subject.