Is partying detrimental for leveling?
I made this thread because I was curious about what other people think. How do people feel about the amount of exp you gain while in a party? That is, the amount of exp you gain when fighting monsters while playing with other players. Is it too low? Too high? Just right?
Just to lay it out, here's an older list which I think still applies today in regards to the amount of exp each player gains when a monster dies:
1 person: 100% of the monster's XP value
2 people: 62.5%
3 people: 43.3%
4 people: 37.5%
5 people: 33.2%
6 people: 29.17%
In my opinion, I find that the way exp is split among multiple people is too harsh, and that trying to level with even one additional party member heavily slows you down. I know that the idea is that by having a party member it can be easier to defeat enemies, but you need to be killing enemies 60% to 300% faster to make up for the reduction in exp, which you typically can't do because enemies don't respawn faster or come in larger packs just because you're in a party. Furthermore, party members can decrease the amount of exp you gain even if they aren't getting exp themselves, (Ex. When you kill a monster before a group member can use a skill) which can decrease the total amount of exp gained.
The way it is right now, I believe the game is actively discouraging players from joining a party when their goal is to get exp, because by playing in a party it slows down everyone's leveling heavily. Players are much better off simply all going solo so they get full exp from kills, as opposed to only getting a tiny portion of monster exp while in a group. As someone who enjoys playing with friends, it's a little frustrating because I know that if I play with them often, us being in a group slows down our progress in terms of exp, but of course we don't want to split up and play separately.
I would like to see the amount of exp players get in a party be increased from the current amount. With how people need to be close to an enemy when it dies AND actively using skills to gain exp, I don't see a reason why the exp gain couldn't be close to if not 100% of the normal exp for all party members. This would make playing with friends more fun (Or more like less unfun), and it means that bumping into someone trying to grind exp in the same area as you could be a potential party member who can help rather than a leech who'll steal all your exp. In all my years of playing Gorgon I have never ONCE seen someone advertising starting a party for the sake of gaining exp, but maybe this change will encourage players who bump into each other to actually party up to make leveling up smoother.
I know that some people would prefer grinding exp solo and wouldn't want to feel "Forced" into a party for the sake of grinding exp, but I think 100% to everyone is a fair amount that doesn't necessarily encourage partying but doesn't discourage it either. It could also mean group dungeons could be much better sources of exp, which could be good or bad depending on whether you think going through group dungeons should be a great way to level or if you'd rather keep dungeon grinds and leveling grinds separate. You could also argue that it would make leeching (One player power levels a significantly weaker player by killing everything for them) significantly more effective, which could be undesirable. Lastly, players would level up faster overall with a change like this, depending on how much they tend to join parties, which could be good or bad depending on your opinion of the current leveling rate in game.
Does anyone else have an opinion on this? Is there anyone else like me who thinks grouping is outright detrimental to progress when it comes to gaining exp? Or is the amount of exp you gain in a party just fine and we should keep it the way it is?
