I've been reading around the forums and it seems like you will certainly max out your xp long before you reach the final encounter and I've yet to finish act 2. I'm currently lvl 5, so I'm wondering how much wiggle room do we have? I wish it was easier to know which quests to take or pass on. But I guess that's what strat guide's are for...

 

Also I'm interested in doing the mega dungeon, about how long would that take to complete total?

That dungeon took me around 5 hours but I went in there at max level as the last thing before the point of no return. If you don't do bounties you should be able to do quite a lot of quests but there are not that many quests that I would call vital to the story. So do the ones that interest you.

Doing every single thing I could in acts 1 and 2 got my player character to level 9, and I'm still in the last glanfarthan ruin NE of Dryford village.

 

Yay for 6 chill fogs, slickens or fan of flames per encounter.

I started Act 3 at level 7. This wasn't really crit-path: I was doing any story-related subquests I ran into, but I didn't do any bounties or explore the Endless Paths.

It seems like Endless Paths and the Stronghold events (bounties) are the main culprits of massive xp gain. Not too surprising, since these were stretch goals and would not have been a high priority balance task.

You can still do the bounties for the loot and not get any experience. Just don't pick up the bounty's head after you kill them because this gives exp. Turning the bounty in gives even more exp. I believe the bounty will drop a unique item every time but I'm not 100% sure as I only did a couple. 

You can only do the first four bounties that way though. You habe to turn them in to get the next ones.

If you're worried about hitting max level too early, you could always change the xp required to gain a level. You may not hit the max level if you do that, but better than sitting at level 12 for hours imo.

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/76717-how-to-change-experience-per-level-requirement/

Doing every single thing I could in acts 1 and 2 got my player character to level 9, and I'm still in the last glanfarthan ruin NE of Dryford village.

 

Yay for 6 chill fogs, slickens or fan of flames per encounter.

 

I'm level 12 and I don't have 6 first level spells... was that changed in the patch or something?

 

I think on my next playthrough I'm going to go hardcore mode and only do critical stuff... we'll have to see how far it gets me! 

I'm level 8 already and I've still not finished act 1. I don't mind TBH, but I can see why some people have reservations about the current leveling of experience.

I'm level 8 already and I've still not finished act 1. I don't mind TBH, but I can see why some people have reservations about the current leveling of experience.

I bet you are in Act 2 and haven't even noticed. I do not believe that you are level 8 in Act 1. Act 1 usually goes to 5 or 6, tops.

Edited April 12, 201510 yr by Luckmann

 

I'm level 8 already and I've still not finished act 1. I don't mind TBH, but I can see why some people have reservations about the current leveling of experience.

I bet you are in Act 2 and haven't even noticed. I do not believe that you are level 8 in Act 1. Act 1 usually goes to 5 or 6, tops.

 

 

He could've done a bunch of bounties and Od Nua and gotten that fairly easily. I avoided bounties altogether and only did floors 1-6 of Od Nua and I was 6-6.5 at the start of Act II.

You can only do the first four bounties that way though. You habe to turn them in to get the next ones.

 Ahh I did not know this.

You can still do the bounties for the loot and not get any experience. Just don't pick up the bounty's head after you kill them because this gives exp. Turning the bounty in gives even more exp. I believe the bounty will drop a unique item every time but I'm not 100% sure as I only did a couple. 

 

Unfortunately you can only do the first batch of bounties that way, and since bounties give nice unique items forcing yourself not to do them sucks.

 

Doing every single thing I could in acts 1 and 2 got my player character to level 9, and I'm still in the last glanfarthan ruin NE of Dryford village.

 

Yay for 6 chill fogs, slickens or fan of flames per encounter.

 

I'm level 12 and I don't have 6 first level spells... was that changed in the patch or something?

 

I think on my next playthrough I'm going to go hardcore mode and only do critical stuff... we'll have to see how far it gets me! 

 

My guess is Selanon and Teldas' rings.