Yes, if you have yourself and a mercenary the group experience gained for yourself would be the same as if it was yourself and one other player. For the calculations of "a full group of players" the mercenary does not count, so 5 players and a mercenary would be the same as 5 players without a mercenary not the 6 players counting as 5 players group experience calculation. For personal experience gains, your exp applied would be the same whether it was yourself and a mercenary versus yourself and another player, mercenary AA does not reduce those personal gains.
I don't think it's contradictory. That quote is referring to how experience is split between a group. It's correct that the mercenary "takes" a portion of the group experience in a similar way that having another person in the group would "take" a portion. A mercenary's experience comes from the group split, not you directly in the way that enabling personal AAs subtract from your base experience. For non-kill sources such as the achievements referenced above, my original statement applies that the experience they receive doesn't subtract from the experience you receive. If you don't have a mercenary hired (suspended or active), you're missing out on free experience that they would receive from that particular achievement.
Meeko quick question: killing mobs has to be the slowest way of leveling a merc. With the way XP is calculated for mercs are we better off killing swarms of greenies or sticking with mobs that give higher xp per kill with respect to leveling them?
I dont use mercs but I have them. Does this mean I will be getting less exp then I would otherwise before this change? Is this effectively slowing down leveling for players? I see a bonus at having a exp'd up merc for the few times I use them but how much exp loss will I be suffering for this? How much exp does a merc take from the group exp? And I guess a bonus of folks not having to decide whose merc gets exp. So a full group of six players will be taxed the cost of 6 mercs exp from fighting etc Seems to be before we had a choice. Have the merc out and have the merc drain some of the group exp or not have him out and get all the exp. Now there is no choice at all. Toggle would seem to make sense.
According to what I see, there is no change for the experience you get using a merc. Instead now mercs get experience they would otherwise not get. Before, if your merc was suspended, you would not get quest reward experience for them and instead that merc experience would be lost. Now, mercs get it even if they are suspended. It's always been that having a merc in your group meant they get a share of the group experience, just like a player. If you don't want that, don't put them in the group. The only change is: (bold added) The change is giving us free merc experience vs. before, if you have them suspended, when you get a quest reward.
Is it free merc experience when it comes out of the groups total? This is where I am stuck. Free exp would be the merc getting a portion equal to a portion of the group exp without subtracting it from the group exp. Meeko says it subtracts from the total group exp didnt he? "I don't think it's contradictory. That quote is referring to how experience is split between a group. It's correct that the mercenary "takes" a portion of the group experience in a similar way that having another person in the group would "take" a portion. A mercenary's experience comes from the group split, not you directly in the way that enabling personal AAs subtract from your base experience." This seems to effectively removes control on whether or not to give mercs exp. Mercs will now always take a portion of exp and I assume the portion goes to them doesn't stop once they are maxed and so we have a permanent exp tax added on for mercs. A toggle would solve that. Unless siphoning off some exp was the goal. Definitely not a right or wrong issue just one of preference though.
Mercs have always taken a share of group (killing) xp when not suspended. If you have a merc in a group, they take a share just like a player in the group. However, when a merc is suspended (not in your group) they take no experience from you or the group. The change is now that when a merc is suspended they get free experience (not taken from anyone) when you complete a quest (achievement) that grants experience. Mercs before took that free experience (not taken from anyone) when you completed a quest (achievement) when in your group. The only change is they now get that free xp even when suspended.
Not changed: (True) Solo => You gain the exp at the 1x rate for killing the mob solo Grouped (merc(s) or player(s)) => You gain the exp at the group rate split calculation for killing the mob in a group (each real player gets the amount of mob exp * group exp modifier / number of players, given that a merc does not count as the "free" 6th player when > 5 players) Mercenary Unsuspended => Merc AA experience gained Changed: (True) Solo or (Grouped) Suspended => Old: No merc AA experience gained, New: Merc AA experience gained
The mercs only take a portion of the GROUP experience if they are NOT suspended. So you still control that. They get THEIR OWN experience for stuff we can't control. Achievements, mostly, where their XP is listed separately from ours. There's some screenshots further back, or you can look at your own achievements from ToV.
