So, new character, tried a few variants. Start point was level 17, with 135xp.
1-Ported to Fall of the outcasts, went to level 24, 372xp. Then ported around the rest, when I got to fall of the empire I got another boost and went to level 27, 595xp.
2-Ported directly to Spirits of Fire, level 20, 238xp. Reign of Dragons, level 27, 595xp.
3-Ported directly to Fall of the Empire, level 27, 595xp.
So it’s not really relevant where you land, you’ll always get the same. Fall of the Empire seems to be better simply because you get them all at once.
Started with 22624xp, ended with 88324xp for a total of 65700xp. Rolled it back, when I finish the campaign I’ll try again and see if the numbers add up, but I have a feeling they wil…
OK so it sounds like you fell into this category, up to season 2 at least. I have acknowledged that the irk no longer applies since the introduction of A10 as now it is always opt in for the player whether to take the absolute XP value penalty or not, as it’s no longer (realistically?) possible to complete the campaign without hitting the break even point - where level XP requirement > quest reward XP.
Well, to finish things off: finished chapter 10, level 58, current xps 75277 (about half way).
Went directly to fall of the empire to get the xps all at once, went to level 65, curent xps 164898.
Went from 1580678 to 3209678 for a total of 1629000xps.
I think the quest complete dialogue says 2M, so I’m likely still having xp penalties applied.
So, in conclusion, the xp cap applies.
Although I would argue that getting 10-11 levels at level 16-17 is much more useful than getting 7 at level 55-60. You unlock a 3rd skill and get a bunch of useful passives/skill points early on.
At level 55-60, when you reach monos, leveling up is very fast anyway.
Oh, hang on… so I WAS right?! This truly is the end times.
If you’ve finished A10, imo that shouldn’t happen, and while I see your point, I don’t think what relative value taking the mono Q XP has at other points during your levelling has any bearing on that. Alts should never be able to get into a position where they are forced to take an XP penalty in absolute values.
Well, look at it this way: if there was no penalty, then you would jump from level 16-17 immediately to level 55+. And that’s not what is intended at all with this.
Yes, but taking that option is not the player being forced, that’s them making a choice to take the penalty because they want to take the levels early on.
My point is that with level penalty the bonus is always relevant. You’ll get a bunch of levels no matter where you are in the character progression, so you can decide where you want to use it for maximum effect.
If there was no penalty, then you would always take it as soon as possible. You could even get a lift to end of time at level 1 and immediately jump to level 60. This is not something the devs want.
On the other hand, also without penalty, if they were to adjust the xp you get so you wouldn’t jump to level 60 but instead went to level 25 or so, then it would be useless when you got there at level 60 at the end of the campaign because it wouldn’t even give you a level. And this would be the option most new players would take because they wouldn’t know any better.
All in all, this way the bonus is always relevant and you have a choice of when you want to use it for maximum effect. You will always get 7-12 levels out of it no matter when you jump in.
The alternative would be to have the bonus only be relevant at lower levels, which would feel bad for new players that didn’t know this and would take the “long” road.
Yeah I know, I get that but I feel like you’re not following what I’m saying. I’m saying that it’s fine to apply a penalty at any point during the campaign/levelling process - it’s perfectly reasonable to cap it at 1 level per mono Q or however they’ve done it. We can ignore ANY penalties that happen to a character under ~L57 - they REQUIRE a penalty to counter absurd powerlevelling, and this is 100% opt in, and they aren’t being forced to do this.
I am saying that all other things being equal, if you have completed the campaign and you have no other reasonable source of XP, if the XP value of the mono Qs changes between your first character and your alts. THAT’S what would be wrong.
Actually I think that the important thing that I forgot here is, though, that because (as I understand it) the Q rewards are separated and you can pick when to trigger some of them, the player can reasonably stagger the Q rewards such that they won’t take penalties from the level caps. So, walking in at 58 might reward the first 5 monos or whatever, and ding you to 62, but then you have a choice: “do I legit clear the first few monos to go for my first 3 blessings, and in doing so level up a bit and avoid the penalty - OR - do I take the next “free” mono Q reward and take the extra levels right away, but receive a penalty for doing so?”. Having access to the monos without having triggered a penalty means that the “having a reasonable source of XP” condition is met.
So as long as the player has the agency to make a choice then I’m actually fine with how it works - it only really depends on the player not receiving any XP penalty the second they walk through the door in the monos, triggering the minimal amount of automatically awarded mono Qs - but, again, this only applies on the assumption that the player has completed A10 and is therefore ~L57+ because at that point they have no other reasonable sources of XP.
I still don’t know exactly which mono Qs complete when you walk through the door though when your account is 10/10. You said you went directly to FotE in order to apply it all at once. Dammit we need one more data point How much penalty, if any, is applied when you have completed all the monos on a main character, but you just walk through the door on the alt to gain access, and are only triggering the minimal number of mono Q rewards at ~L57+. If the answer is zero, then everything is fine and fair.
I think the only way to do what you want would be to only give the mono quest when you enter that mono, rather than give a bunch at once.
From my tests, if you enter at the bottom you immediately get a bunch, including the top ones, so you’ll always have some penalty awarded.
Also, it’s not true that you have no other XP sources. You can go level up in the arena until you’re at a level where you won’t get any penalties. Or even level up in the dungeons.
How much penalty, if any, is applied when you have completed all the monos on a main character, but you just walk through the door on the alt to gain access, and are only triggering the minimal number of mono Q rewards at ~L57+. If the answer is zero, then everything is fine and fair.