Does having more characters in your party reduce XP gained?

[Andhaira]

Does having more or less characters in a party change the experience gained?

[Bryy]

Considering all XP is gained through quests and exploration, I'd venture to say no.

[DrBrian]

From what I grasped global experience gain would be the same but being shared between party members, so the bigger your party would be the less would be the individual gain. Consequently small party will more likely level faster. The level cap should limit the effectiveness of such strategy though.

[Silent Winter]

^AFAIK, the xp is divided among your party, so yes per party member.  You'd get 1000xp for the quest.  Each character gets their share (1000/6 or 1000/5 etc)

[PrimeJunta]

@Silent Winter is right, although we don't know if they'll tweak the formula instead of just using a straight-up fraction. Soloing will get you to level up faster, although possibly not six times faster. That could be problematic since you'd hit the level cap around when you'd be at level 2 when playing with a full party which would make the rest of the game a little boring maybe.

[Bryy]

You can't grind in this game, so I don't see why you'd even want to alter this mechanic in a metagame.

[Andhaira]

You can't grind in this game, so I don't see why you'd even want to alter this mechanic in a metagame.

 

You will have to grind for money, ingredients, items, etc. Who knows, the butthurt is reaching such critical levels on the no xp from combat thing, Obsidian may decide to implement xp from combat after all.

[Gfted1]

You cant really "grind" for money either as all merchants have a fixed amount of gold. After that is exhausted you will have to wait for them to replenish or find another merchant.

[PrimeJunta]

At least in the beta the merchant gold copper replenishes almost immediately. I would expect them to restock from time to time in the game also.

[Silent Winter]

From what I grasped global experience gain would be the same but being shared between party members, so the bigger your party would be the less would be the individual gain. Consequently small party will more likely level faster. The level cap should limit the effectiveness of such strategy though.

^I'd just like to point out that this post wasn't there when I put my reply in (must've been awating mod-approval)

So DrBrian passes his stealth-check and gets the 'Stealth Ninja' award

 

[J.E. Sawyer]

Having more characters slightly reduces the overall XP you gain, but it isn't straight division.  Currently I think there's a 5% reduction in overall XP gained between party members. We've structured it this way due to how characters are banked at the stronghold and because players can hire additional adventurers for money at one level below their own.  If you play with a smaller party, you will level a little bit faster, but not tremendously faster.

[TrueMenace]

Having more characters slightly reduces the overall XP you gain, but it isn't straight division.  Currently I think there's a 5% reduction in overall XP gained between party members. We've structured it this way due to how characters are banked at the stronghold and because players can hire additional adventurers for money at one level below their own.  If you play with a smaller party, you will level a little bit faster, but not tremendously faster.

Does that mean banked companions/hired adventurers gain xp at the Stronghold or is their XP gain frozen?

[J.E. Sawyer]

Banked companions gain XP at the stronghold at a reduced rate unless you send them on adventures, which helps make up the deficit.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Having more characters slightly reduces the overall XP you gain, but it isn't straight division.  Currently I think there's a 5% reduction in overall XP gained between party members. We've structured it this way due to how characters are banked at the stronghold and because players can hire additional adventurers for money at one level below their own.  If you play with a smaller party, you will level a little bit faster, but not tremendously faster.

 

 

Banked companions gain XP at the stronghold at a reduced rate unless you send them on adventures, which helps make up the deficit.

 

All of this sounds pretty cool, since it encourages you to try out different playstyles - playing with fewer party members (like I did in the beta) or taking different NPCs and adventures aboard at different times - but, and this is a big but, the total instances of xp gain seem to be something you can count on your fingers and toes per act, so why are those interesting xp adjustments in place in the face of this xp-ticking scarcity?

Edited August 25, 2014 by IndiraLightfoot