What happened to the full group xp bonus?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Herf, Mar 25, 2023.

  1. Herf Augur

    Years ago we were told that there was a full group bonus because the designer wanted EQ to be a social experience. Then a year or two ago in a patch I recall a note saying that adding a 4th person to a group would raise xp for the group.

    However none of that is true. Duo's get more XP than quads. Did they change something at some point?
  2. Tyranthraxus Grognard

    Isn't xp per kill divided between party members? So troll 1 is worth 1000 xp, player 1 gets 500 player 2 gets 500, if theres a 4th player bump troll is worth 1500 divided by 4.

    4 player group kills trolls faster and levels faster with the bump.

    I may be wrong here but thats how I've always understood it to work, solo is the best xp possible percentage wise per kill, always has been it just takes forever, and the bump in xp makes it even less advantageous, but you aren't splitting the xp, you get 100% of the unmodified xp from the dead troll.
    Rijacki likes this.
  3. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    It's an extra 20% per player in the group.

    Solo: You get all 1000 points as XP

    Duo: You split two ways 1000X1.2 = 600XP each

    Trio: You get 1/3 of 1000*1.4 = 466XP each

    etc.

    Yes, you get less per kill, each, but you kill more than faster enough to make up the difference, and then some.
    minimind, Rijacki and Koshk like this.
  4. Soulbanshee Augur

    Mercs dont count for full group, only 6 real players, mercs split all exp up to 6. The way I remember it being explained is the max exp split is 5 real players, so that the 6th player is "free" exp, each of the 6 players gets 1/5 of the exp share, though I cant remember if the bonus is 5 or 6 players.

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/game-update-notes-march-11-2020.263793/
    - Increased the experience bonus for having other players (not mercenaries) in your group.
    - Increased the amount of AA experience you get in groups of 4 or more and raids of 13 or more.

    And not really what you meant but:
    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/game-update-notes-march-13-2019.255574/
    - Improved the rate that mercenary alternate advancement experience is gained.
    Rijacki and Szilent like this.
  5. Soulbanshee Augur

  6. Soulbanshee Augur

    https://everquest.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=23631
    Added an additional experience bonus for grouping with other players. Mercenaries will not add this new bonus. Each additional player added to a group will add a higher bonus up to the group maximum. A group of six players will receive approximately 22% more experience per kill than a group made of three players and three mercenaries.
    Rijacki likes this.
  7. Herf Augur

    It sounds like on non merc servers there's no bonus for more people in the group. Actually there's a penalty. Which really sucks. You invite another player to be friendly and you get penalized.
  8. Spacemonkey555 Augur

    • 1 characters - 1x (100%x1)
    • 2 characters - 1.58x (50x1.58x2=158% total, 79% each)
    • 3 characters - 1.92x (33x1.92x3=190% total, 63% each) No idea if it rounds up or down
    • 4 characters - 2.22x (25x2.22x4=222% total, 55.5% each)
    • 5 characters - 2.5x (etc)
    • 6 characters - 2.56x
  9. Soulbanshee Augur

    No matter the server, when you divide up the exp, its "less exp per single kill" because of the split, but "more exp per hour" because the increased group DPS. On all servers, theres a bonus added to the base exp per group member (more for real players than mercs), but it does not give you more than the base exp on the split.

    Theres 2 different mechanics.

    1. Bonus added to the base exp so exp split isn't as detrimental in groups (mercs add a smaller bonus than real players).

    1000 exp, 1 player, 1.00 * 1000 / 1 = 1000 exp per player
    1000 exp, 2 players, 1.58 * 1000 / 2 = 790 exp per player


    2. 6th real player does not increase the split of the group, 6 real player group members will / 5.

    1000 exp, 5 players, 2.50 * 1000 / 5 = 500 exp per player
    1000 exp, 6 players, 2.56 * 1000 / 5 = 512 exp per player
    Yinla and Skuz like this.
  10. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    It sounds like you have no idea how it works
    Skuz, Xyroff-cazic. and Kaenneth like this.
  11. Herf Augur

    I have a very good idea how this works, in practice not theory. Go to some place like Crypt of Decay with two in a group. XP. Add a third. XP. Add a 4th. XP. The amount of XP per toon is less on each stage (ok I admit I haven't tested the third, but the 4th is definite.)

    The other thing about adding more toons giving you higher kill rates is that only applies if you optimize the group membership by class. In my case if I'm lvl'ing my 63 PAL with 65 () CLR and 65 (semi-) RNG and a 65 () BRD in Plane of Fire with the 65's working on AA and the PAL getting regular XP, the PAL gets like 0.75 XP per kill. And that is with an XP II pot running AND the current +50% XP bonus in game.
  12. Spacemonkey555 Augur

    Yup, you don't know how xp works..

    You divide the mob xp to the group. In a duo, each would get half the xp, 50%+50%=100% (if no bonus). Since there's a grouping bonus, they get more than half, they get 79% each, which means the mob gave 158%, which is a 58% bonus over the base experience the mob is worth.
    Skuz, Rijacki, Svann2 and 2 others like this.
  13. Kaenneth [You require Gold access to view this title]

    Only time it's a loss is if your group can kill all the pullable mobs and you end up waiting on respawn. That means you need to move to a tougher zone.
    minimind and Skuz like this.
  14. Xyroff-cazic. Director of Sarcasm

    Nah. You need to step back and think about this one a little bit more, lol... others have already explained it, but it's quite clear you aren't quite getting it.

    You'll wake up at like 3 in the morning sometime next week and be like... OH WAIT
    Skuz and Rijacki like this.
  15. Windance Augur

    Or if the extra group members do not ( are not able to ) add any significant DPS to drop mobs faster.

    This is yet another reason they need to revamp clerics so they can contribute some decent DPS when not called to heal.
    Herf and Spacemonkey555 like this.
  16. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    Yes, you don't know how it works.

    You get less PER KILL, because you are SHARING. But you are getting more per kill >in total< (i.e. across all characters) than you would without the bonus.

    And stop with the "optimize" nonsense. Two will kill at least as fast as one, and three at least three times, etc. If you actually are optimizing stuff like a pro, two will kill WAY more than twice as fast, etc.

    I three box with three mercs. ToV mobs are dying in ~25 seconds. There's no way any of those single characters would be killing in 150 seconds, and staying alive doing it. Not to mention the time saved not worrying about engineering single pulls. Pull a few, tank 'em all, burn them down one at a time.

    Now, we're talking about normal fights here. Obviously, when kiting or root-rotting or swarm charming are involved, then, yes, a solo character can XP faster (XP/hour) than any char in any group situation. That's an edge case, and those all have caveats of their own (mobs can't summon, need at least a certain amount of room, no roamers, mobs which are charmable, etc). Violate any of those caveats, and that XP situation is right out the window.
    Skuz likes this.
  17. Svann2 The Magnificent

    Or when you are dragging along someone not contributing.
    Herf likes this.
  18. Herf Augur

    Like when you're trying to lvl 4 different boxes :(
  19. TheRealMuramx Elder

    Yes, but you share the exp with your group so you get less the more people (mercs don't count.) So they added exp modifiers to help, but you still won't make what a solo player makes. The theory was to get people to group. But the dynamic of the game has changed to where all the exp comes from completing merc/part missions with set exp while the actual killing is abysmally low so why group of you can do the task with 2 or 3 boxes and a couple mercs?
  20. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    Wow, another person who never kills mobs to make XP for AAs! Amazing.
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