Grouping with your superiors

[August]

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

Point made was have fun, not worry about how much % each kill he's gaining.

People have fun in different ways. I am a mathematician / developer by trade and this just stuck out to me as odd.

I only ponder it because of the extreme amount of time I've spent in 54 and I wanted to look @ the math behind it.

It just seems odd to me that you are heavily penalized by grouping with someone 6 levels higher than you. This is mainly due to the modifier shifting per LEVEL in 50+.

At levels 1-30 you are only seeing a 1.0 modifier so you can view your percentage of the pie as my level / total levels.

For instance, a 24 and a 30 can group, and the 24 gets 24/54 of the exp, or about 44% of the exp per kill.

At 54.5 and 60, you are receiving 33% of the kill. As you level, level discrepancies matter much more, however the range of levels you can group with also greatly expand.

Oh, to be a coder in 1997!

(Oh and I AM enjoying my leveling tract, btw!)

[Lonetree]

Way i look at it is grouping with that group of 60s you mention just earns more pie to compensate for the other 10/11ths you mention dragging you down. This is in two ways, more pies, the 60s will hit harder, take less damage etc. Killing more mobs faster. 2nd, bigger pies, you can go to higher mobs that give more exp. Overall ive been happy with this balance enough to not factor it unless the person of higher level is sooo much higher than the mobs we face that their benifits saturate. Interesting discussion point thou, thx.

[August]

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

A group with 5 lvl 60s in rather than 5 lvl 54s is probably going to kill twice as quickly as least, so as long as you don't run out of mobs this shouldn't be an issue.

I think the difference here is that a group of 5 level 60s could do juggs while 5 lvl 54s would probably wipe.

My main worry / detriment comes in when you're talking about the LCY camp in KC. I know KC sucks ass but let me use it for illustration.

If I am in LCY I am certainly charming, and my dps will make up quite a bit of group dps. We have the choice of replacing our puller with either a 59 ranger or a 52 monk. Neither character is going to contribute much besides chain pulling. The 59 ranger will put a huge (assuming im 54 in this scenario) damper on my total exp, while the 52 monk will actually boost it.

I am therefore required to think that rangers are only good for taking harmtouch.

[Itap]

I see.

It is very well known classic EQ grinding is terrible. This was revamped several times by SOE in later years, but this server won't see any until Velious (removing class/race xp penalties).

[August]

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

Way i look at it is grouping with that group of 60s you mention just earns more pie to compensate for the other 10/11ths you mention dragging you down. This is in two ways, more pies, the 60s will hit harder, take less damage etc. Killing more mobs faster. 2nd, bigger pies, you can go to higher mobs that give more exp. Overall ive been happy with this balance enough to not factor it unless the person of higher level is sooo much higher than the mobs we face that their benifits saturate. Interesting discussion point thou, thx.

I agree with the balancing issue however with the zones populated the way they are, often times we are constrained by the amount of mobs available to a camp.

I noticed this mainly when camping crypt in seb with a bunch of 55s versus a group of 4 60s, myself, and a 54 cleric. I got a considerable amount more exp with the 55s than the 60s, and killed the same set of mobs.

This rings true for pretty much every heavily contested camp, I believe. Just an interesting facet of the game I hadn't considered until now.

[August]

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

I see.

It is very well known classic EQ grinding is terrible. This was revamped several times by SOE in later years, but this server won't see any until Velious (removing class/race xp penalties).

Probably the reason I only made it to level 34 my first play thru [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.].

[Tecmos Deception]

Nah. Just because a ranger isn't the ideal addition to that group doesn't mean they're meaningless. If you reversed the levels, the monk would be chain pulling and doing little damage while the ranger would be chain pulling and doing little damage... but soaking up less xp. But you wouldn't say that monks are only good for taking DTs just because a 59 monk isn't a good addition to your group in terms of your personal xp speed, would you?

Oh, and don't forget that an iksar monk actually has a worse xp penalty than a ranger does.

[Itap]

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

Probably the reason I only made it to level 34 my first play thru [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.].

Haha. Btw you are 100% correct. I think the issue is really the availability of classes all lfg in your level range. I think you just kinda take what you can get lol

[Tecmos Deception]

OP is a necro or an enchanter, based on his comment about charming. Imo you should look into small groups instead of larger ones, unless you really love the large group dynamic (whatever that means).

An enchanter and a cleric can kill 1/2 as many mobs as a typical group of 6 can, but without having to split the loot 6 ways and the xp even thinner than that. Plus you won't be "carrying" any wizards or AFKers or anything [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

At the very least try trioing with a cle/sham + yourself + another charmer/pet class.

[August]

I am enchanter! I love to duo but I prefer shaman for malo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

So I'll use this as a stage. If you have HS key and are a shaman, I would love to duo with you!

Tomtee <54.94 enc>