A Question for anyone who has played a ranger a lot...

[Tux]

Originally Posted by nocookiesforme [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Do people really care about the Hybrid EXP penalty in grouping? Does it actually deter people from grouping with Hybrid classes? I just did some quick napkin math, and it's very possible that I messed it up, but I don't really think I did:

Say a group with a Ranger, with an EXP modifier of 1.4, and 5 people with an EXP modifier of 1.00, are grouped together; all are the same level, so the Ranger has collected exactly 1.4 times the experience that everyone else in the group has. They kill a MOB that, after factoring in all other EXP mods, gives a total of 640 EXP. The Ranger will get 140 of the Experience, everybody else will get 100.

If you replace that ranger with a different class that has a 1.0 modifier and kill the same mob, everybody gets 106.667, for a total of a <7% difference. Unless your group composition is such that a Ranger is TOTALLY redundant, is that really enough to deter you from grouping with one? I know it hasn't stopped me yet, but I'm curious to see if other people truly care.

The scenario you chose minimizes the impact of the hybrid exp penalty as much as is possible. Most groups are not full, and rarer yet is a case of nobody else having an exp penalty.

Any class that can solo, can exp significantly faster soloing then duoing with a hybrid. Given how much soloing goes on here, this scenario alone has more impact then full group scenario, and it isn't good for the community.

Not that these discussions actually matter, exp penalty will stay until that point in Velious when it finally became widely understood and was thus removed.

[Hamahakki]

Originally Posted by Tux [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The scenario you chose minimizes the impact of the hybrid exp penalty as much as is possible. Most groups are not full, and rarer yet is a case of nobody else having an exp penalty.

This is wrong - choosing a group of people with no exp penalty MAXIMIZES the penalty of choosing a hybrid over a non-penalty class, not minimizes it.

Consider the same example (640 exp mob) with a group of 5 people who have a 1.4 exp modifier.

If they add a 6th hybrid, they will be splitting the exp evenly for 106.67 exp apiece.

If they add a 1.0 exp mod class they will each be getting 112 exp, which is less than 5% more exp per person.

He picked the worst-case full-group scenario and it still came out to less than 7%.

The penalty, of course, is much more significant in a small group. The very good solo classes are going to earn less exp grouping with ANYONE. As a Ranger, Necromancer is not really the class you want to duo with (though it works fine). It's better to grab a Rogue/Warrior; you can duo with no downtime and they would be getting ZERO exp solo so they aren't going to care about the hybrid penalty.

[Tux]

Originally Posted by Hamahakki [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is wrong - choosing a group of people with no exp penalty MAXIMIZES the penalty of choosing a hybrid over a non-penalty class, not minimizes it.

We're talking about two different things. I'm talking about how much exp is lost on penalties, not how much exp a specific character in a group is taking.

By having a single hybrid in a full group the exp penalty is collectively minimal, as in how much it affects those you group with. If you're a cleric grouped with 5 hybrids it's ... bad.

[nocookiesforme]

Originally Posted by Tux [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The scenario you chose minimizes the impact of the hybrid exp penalty as much as is possible. Most groups are not full, and rarer yet is a case of nobody else having an exp penalty.

Any class that can solo, can exp significantly faster soloing then duoing with a hybrid. Given how much soloing goes on here, this scenario alone has more impact then full group scenario, and it isn't good for the community.

Not that these discussions actually matter, exp penalty will stay until that point in Velious when it finally became widely understood and was thus removed.

That's all true. Here was my logic in using the scenario I did:

• Somebody playing a Solo class CAN exp faster without a Hybrid - that's true, and a perfectly valid point. I don't blame anybody playing a solo class for not wanting to duo with a Hybrid. But hey, that's why they're playing a solo class.
• Somebody in a less than full group - won't adding ANYBODY who's not AFK allow you to kill things faster, and reduce downtime enough that you're going to get more experience than you would without that person? Even if the person added is a Hybrid? I understand that this won't be the case you're camping static spawns, and you're always at full health/mana by the time they pop. But in any other case, I feel like having an additional player means reducing downtime, which means more kills per session, which should outweigh any experience penalty, however slightly. Am I wrong? I'll freely admit I've never gotten to a particularly high level in either classic OR P99, so I'm not speaking from actual experience here.
• Somebody in a group that's already got people with experience penalties - if you're willing to overlook the ones you already have, why start complaining now? Granted, if hybrids make up the MAJORITY of any group, I can see that being a problem. But that seems like it would be a poor group composition anyway.

I dunno, those were just my thoughts.