[Bumamgar]

So we chose to distribute experience in the group on the basis of the total experience of each member rather than the level, in order to keep groups together

Now you'll notice that we are dividing up experience based upon the LEVEL makeup of the group. For instance, if a level 20 and a level 21 group together, the level 21 will get more experience per kill. That is however only fair since the level 21 does actually contribute more value to the group.

From the producers letter in 2001 that explained how XP worked before and after the changes.

Specifically, the XP share in p1999 was changed to depend on the total experience of each member. This change made it so that higher level members take more XP than lower, characters with class/race penalties take more XP than those without, and people in hell levels (which require more XP) take a larger share than those not in a hell level. Per Gordon's Producers letter, this is how it was done on live before the XP changes in 2001. A group members split was determined based on total XP, which included class/race/level and of course hell levels. Now, keep in mind, back in 2001, the EQ devs hadn't even acknowledged the existence of hell levels yet. So while hell levels aren't specifically mentioned in the producer's letter, it is easy to infer, based on his description of how XP was split, that hell level XP was factored into the overall split.

Link to producer's letter... One of the main resources I used when coding the XP changes [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/edit...rs_letter.html