It is my understanding that if I form a group of characters of different levels, my lowest level character won't get exp UNLESS it is at least 2/3 of the level of the highest character. Thus, as an example, I have a 72 level SK, I would use a 46 level shaman and bard. Assuming I am right, now for the question: If I want my LOWER level characters to get exp, can I kill mobs near their level such as level 46 or 47 or does my SK have to kill things that are at least green to him? NOTE: I am for the moment only concerned with raising the levels of my lower end characters and not necessarily that of the SK until the lower level characters go up a few levels. Also, if my box does attack level 70 mobs, does all characters gain levels especially the lower level ones at a quicker rate?
I box my 85 SK with a 108 Ranger and 108 Chanter - with mercs running on all 3. My 85 SK gets experience and even better his evolving weapons really go up fast hitting those red con mobs. Even though I had all his exp going to AA he managed to level twice from the experience gains (was not capped on AA yet) so I had to kill him to get him back to 85. Now and then the higher guys get an experience message but it all depends on what we are killing. We kill normal level 100 and higher mobs which are red to the SK .
Rules for determining the level range for earning exp with other toons: 1) Multiply the lower-level toon's level * 1.5. 2) Round that number down and then add 1. 3) Max 30 levels. So for your lvl 46 shaman: 1) 46 * 1.5 = 69. 2) Nothing to round down, so just add 1: 69 + 1 = 70. Your level 46 toons can group with a toon as high as level 70 and still get exp. Notes: The formula above only affects toons that are level 57 and lower. From level 58 on, 30 levels higher is the max range. There is a cap on how much exp you can earn per kill. This means that killing a red-con mob that is 20 levels higher than you probably won't earn you any more exp than killing a red-con mob that is 9 levels higher than you. In general, as long as mobs are red, faster kills are more exp than higher level mobs. The mobs must /consider at least green to the group's highest-level toon in order for anybody to earn AA exp. However, regular exp is not affected: a low-level toon can earn regular exp, even if the mobs being killed are grey to the higher-level toons in the group. Thanks to Autogrant, there is no reason to waste any exp on AAs until level 105. And even at 105, there are very few cases where it is worthwhile to put any exp towards AAs until max level (110). It is far more difficult to hit or land a spell on a mob that is 20 levels higher than it is to hit/land on a mob that is 9 levels higher than you. So the quickest way to get skill-ups based on landing hits/spells will not necessarily be to fight the highest level mobs you can. Mercs take a cut of your group's exp. Suspend your lowbie's mercs until they are useful. For fastest leveling of new toons, I try to kill mobs that are red to the low-level toon, but usually not more than 10 levels higher than the lower-level toon. This seems to allow for the fastest exp overall.
A me too post I like a lot of level 50+ characters on shards I play. Since that is important to me I advance them by having at least one good'nuff toon per shard. For me a the level 85 Heroic characters are made to order. http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/EQ:Grouping_Level Until they can group the high level characters systematically twink the lower level characters. For doing the Dailies<Took> I have the high level character go along with the low level character and do the same level quest. They get two rewards for 5 kills which both go to the low level character. For just straight up leveling the 1.5 rule means level 56 is the magic number for the character getting leveled. The sweet spot NameAlreadyInUse mentions is maximum experience points per kill and speed at which you kill. I find this happens about 10 levels above the character getting leveled and 20 below the character doing the leveling. So for a level 56 character being leveled by a level 85 character you would want to use an area with level 65-70 MOBs. I tend to relax after my characters on a shard are all level 50-60+. They are pretty much self supporting from there on out and useful. The Magician can summon Quiver of Mar for the Ranger while they get to Endless Quiver AA and so on and so on. Two things you have to remember is the lower level character has to be in the immediate area where the killing is taking place and they should do damage/hit the MOB to help with experience and combat skills. It may be a bad idea to use Taunt with a monster that will drop you like a bag of dirt, but you can pretty safely get skill ups in things like weapon and spell casting.
