How do AA xp work?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Deckerd Smeckerd, Mar 13, 2013.

  1. Deckerd Smeckerd Augur

    I've heard that it depends on what the mobs level is compared to your own. What is the bonus (or is there a bonus) for mobs that are green, light blue, dark blue, white, yellow or red?

    If I can kill 25 white mobs in 30 minutes at level 75, would that be the same AAxp as 25 white mobs at level 100?
  2. moogs Augur

    I don't remember very much about it, but the concept goes sort of like this:

    You receive a certain amount of XP points for each kill. This is a real number, and it is invisible to the player. It takes a certain amount of XP points to gain a level. One AA point is equal to the amount of XP required to level up from 50 to 51, whatever that number is. (Let's call it 1,000,000 experience points.) Ignoring recent changes such as the XP curve modifier, that basic concept has never changed.

    You will receive the most experience from killing mobs that are close to your level. There's a bonus for killing things that are stronger than you, up to a certain point (maybe it's +10 levels). You gain much less experience from killing things that are a lot lower than you (maybe it's -10 levels). There is a curve factored in, and there's a sweet spot right around - I'm throwing this out there - 2 levels above you to 2 levels below you.

    Each mob has an assigned base XP value (maybe it's 5,000 or 50,000,000), which is then modified by the player's level, split by how many party members and what their levels are compared to the mob's, etc. In theory, the AA XP should be faster killing 25 white mobs at level 100, but in practice it could be slower because the kills should take longer and the XP value from each mob probably doesn't scale up from one level to the next as much as one might think. (Maybe a white con is worth 500 base points at 75 and 600 base points at 100.)

    I could be entirely wrong, and maybe I've just played too much Diablo 2 and am confusing myself. I'm sure someone will be able to provide a better answer. There have been some great posts on the old forums explaining this very topic, and I apologize that my memory fails me the way it does.
  3. gcubed Augur

    One thing that is important to know is that the amount of AA XP a mob will award is based on the level of the highest member of your group. If you kill something that is a gray con to any group member, nobody in that group will have any XP applied to AA's, even if it is a red con to everyone else.
    moogs likes this.
  4. Shang Augur

    They removed this system in, uh, erm, House of Thule?

    Now it's just dependent on:
    • Your level.
    • Level of mob.
    • Whether your current spent AA is within the Bonus Exp threshold.
    • ZEM
    • Your Race/Class
    Mykaylla and moogs like this.
  5. moogs Augur

    Good info, guys.
  6. Venur Lorekeeper

    Race EXP penalty and bonus have been removed a long long time ago (around Lost dungeon of yekasha if I'M not mistaken) but the class EXP table still true.
  7. Yther Augur

    Ignoring all other mods (zone experience mod, lotd, potions, etc.) basic AA comes down to how many AA you currently have to determine your low AA count bonus, if under 4000 AAs, giving a 10x at 1AA to 1x bonus at 4000AA in a linear fashion. Now ignoring that bonus, yes as you said, 25 whites at 75 will be the same AA experience as 25 whites at 100 or any level for that matter, that you can earn AAs at.

    The original systems was based on equal to regular exp as a level 51 = 1 AA (although real life testing in-game showed it not quite equal but withing 20% one way or the other; I've forgotten the exact ratio now). This was the system, until The Serpent's Spine came out, at which point they used that system's con at 70 to make the new con-based system. So now-a-days, killing a white con is the same AA as the old system was of killing a white con at level 70. It's not exactly the same for every con, but basically works like it did for a level 70 character based on the con of the mob.

    Since the old system had built in bonus for withing 5 levels (dark blue to barely red), then that is most likely carried over into the system, since the base numbers are still calculated basically the same, just as if you were level 70, and the mobs level adjust similarly. Now, this is an assumption, since no one outside the coders no the exact formulas, but from what they have told us, it works basically like that.

    Now the important thing about experience rate (exp / time unit) is how many kills in that time unit of the various cons of mobs. So if you 2x as many barely dark blues in the same time, you kill 1 white, but get 80% of the exp per kill, then yes, the dark blues seem like better experience, but if it's 5 dark blues in the time of 4 whites, then at that same 80% per kill difference, they'd be equal.

    All the variables make it very dependent on the situation, as well kill rate, which is dependent on weapons, gear, current AAs, current mobs, etc.

    It's not like the old system, where, the higher level mobs you could kill, the more AA xp you got, and by alot, so leveling first, then working on AAs was often better, as you could kill (even with the same gear, and no AAs to start with) alot higher level mobs. Now it's only relative to your level. So at whatever level you can kill stuff the fastest, that gives the best exp per tine unit, that is your best place to AA. With the low AA count bonus, it's often faster / easier at lower levels.

    It's a bit complicated, due to the number of variables involved, but once you experience the difference, it becomes somewhat clearer. Personally, I love the new system way more than the old, 'cause trying to get 100 AAs at 59 in the old system, you were talking about over a year worth of work, where you could level to 65-70 and get those 100 in a matter of month or so.

    Hopefully this helps explain it, clearly enough.

    Yther Ore.
  8. Nenton Augur

    Neither the race nor class bonuses were ever removed [for level experience].
    Yther likes this.
  9. Venur Lorekeeper

    race was removed long time ago when the HP regen from iksar and troll stoped to worth a 20% EXP nerf and it was from SoE words and I can tell you that I tested it when me and my bro where farming the hero quest before it was nerfed (so before WoW release).

    The class EXP requirement still differ from class to class SK having one of the worst requirement if my memories are rights.
  10. Sovlek New Member

    Race PENALTIES were removed.
    Racial bonuses are still in effect. Halfling being the only one with a bonus, as I recall.
  11. Yther Augur

    See http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki.html?h=Racial_Regeneration and http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/Racial_Regeneration for the originals from 2112, or http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/EQ:Racial_Regeneration

    I don't have a quick link, but those were tested out right before being posted, iirc.

    There's a developer post around here some where, that I can't find (Knew I should of bookmarked when I was reading it, 'cause this is a recurring discussion) that was due to the marketplace race change causing level loss, was explained that the original system is still in play, but they made mods to try to balance out the penalties, but left the bonuses in. The race change exemplifies the problems between the two systems, one, the original, being innate amounts, while the 2nd was bonuses applied while earning exp to balance it out, but not present in the race change calculations at the time. I'm not sure if they ever fixed the race change or not, but it was clear the bonuses are still in effect, and the penalties removed as far as xp, via the mod. All of this around 2007 patch.

    EDIT: And why isn't there an option to search for any developer / code / official SOE personnel posts?

    Yther Ore.
  12. Sebbina Augur

    The AA XP is still related to the value of the mob against the level of the highest character in group, if the top character kills a gray, there is no AAXP for anyone in the group. My suggestion has been do XP first with high levels as mob color affects XP, then look to gain AA, if mobs give XP to highest.
  13. Mykaylla Augur

    TSS, but otherwise yep. That's why AA quest rewards were all out of whack at first in TSS if a high level was grouped with a low level, and the low level completed a quest.
  14. Yther Augur

  15. Beimeith Lord of the Game

    And any EXP potions, AAs, or Spells.