Question regarding rate of character progression

[snergle]

it took me 40 days to hit 60 playing 4ish hours a day. I stoped making groups in the 40's and only duo / trio'd though. Also I am an enc so my kill speed is usually as fast as a groups.

[Sodors Finest Poster]

If you can solo efficiently / twink then you can progress a lot faster than having to rely on PUGs.

The classic group "bonuses" actually discourage grouping. It's my biggest gripe about 'classic' Everquest.

[Galvanue]

Originally Posted by Sodors Finest Poster [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The classic group "bonuses" actually discourage grouping. It's my biggest gripe about 'classic' Everquest.

Well that's disappointing.

[mphintz2]

Originally Posted by Sodors Finest Poster [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you can solo efficiently / twink then you can progress a lot faster than having to rely on PUGs.

The classic group "bonuses" actually discourage grouping. It's my biggest gripe about 'classic' Everquest.

Originally Posted by Galvanue [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Well that's disappointing.

Could someone please explain this? Are the bonuses not large enough? I thought mobs actually gave more exp when killed by a group...

[Sodors Finest Poster]

a mob is worth 100 xp, you kill it solo you get 100 xp.

a mob is worth 100 xp, you kill it with a buddy(s) and it is worth (100xp * modifier / group mates)

party members xp gained throughout their lives also counts in the math but lets keep it simple.

problem is, the group modifier is so low that unless you are killing things nearly six times more efficiently in a full group than solo you are losing xp per hour. The reality is spawns will probably be limited and lets face it, there is much dead weight and inefficiencies in a large group.

I dont know the exact percent bonuses but i know it starts at two members being 2% so for the example above you would each take 51xp (100 * 1.02 / 2) provided you were the same level and a class/race combo with the same xp penalties / bonuses... this is why hybrids were shunned out of groups prior to the hybrid xp patch.

[Sodors Finest Poster]

SOE fixed this by ramping up the bonus and (i believe) making the sixth person not even count in dividing the total mobs xp pie. Sadly, this is out of the time line of P99.

Its a pity and should be added once the servers progression is done

[mphintz2]

OK, this makes sense. Dead weight really makes a group suffer. Likewise, competing for mobs would. But a steady stream and good class mechanics working together seems like it would be slightly more efficient, especially in a smaller group (3-4ish).

[Swish]

Originally Posted by mphintz2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

OK, this makes sense. Dead weight really makes a group suffer.

This is why nobody likes afk wizards, warriors who can't hold aggro or underleveled people who can't land anything. I've seen people try to get into a MM pond group at 18 for example, or a CoM group at 36...because you know, everything is such high level that means I'll get quicker levels, right? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[EQBallzz]

Originally Posted by mphintz2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Could someone please explain this? Are the bonuses not large enough? I thought mobs actually gave more exp when killed by a group...

My understanding of how it works is that you do get a "group" XP bonus for each added person to the group. However, the XP per kill is still split among group members so if the bonus isn't high enough you still receive less total XP per kill than if you were solo. This is theoretically made up by increasing your kill speed/reducing down time.

I'm sure depending on level and location and kill speed there will always be a "sweet spot" of group size to earn the most XP per hour. I'm guessing the sweet spot is to have enough people to kill mobs constantly without stopping but not so many people that you kill all the mobs and end up waiting for repops (or something like that).

*edit*
Changed wording to be more clear. I meant XP per hour not XP per kill. XP even with bonus will always be less than solo but would theoretically be made up in increased kill speed/reduced down time.