While levelling on the beta I noticed green mobs felt a bit stingy on XP, so I started logging every kill's XP from the combat log (solo, no rested bonus, no group). The numbers fit one clear rule, so I'm posting them in case it's a bug.
What I found
Mobs at or above your level give exactly the documented vanilla amount. Mobs below your level give less, and the numbers match a formula where the mob's level is used where your level should be:
- Documented vanilla (mob below you):
(45 + 5 × your level) × (1 − levels below / ZD)
- What Forever gives:
(45 + 5 × mob level) × (1 − levels below / ZD)
(ZD = "zero difference", the usual table: 5 at levels 1–7, 9 at 16–19, 11 at 20–29, etc.)
Data (every single kill matched the Forever column exactly)
| My level |
Mob level |
Vanilla |
Forever (predicted) |
Got |
| 16 |
18 |
138 |
138 |
138 |
| 16 |
16 |
125 |
125 |
125 |
| 16 |
15 |
111 |
107 |
107 |
| 16 |
14 |
97 |
89 |
89 |
| 16 |
13 |
83 |
73 |
73 |
| 16 |
11 |
55 |
44 |
44 |
| 5 |
1 |
14 |
10 |
10 |
So greens are effectively discounted twice: once by their lower level, and again for being below you. It's −4% one level below, rising to −20% five levels below at level 16. If the same rule holds later, it would be about −13% for a level 30 killing level 25 mobs, and about −7% at 60 vs 55.
Why I think it might be a bug
The "mob above you" part of the formula uses your level as normal, only the "mob below you" part uses the mob's level. That looks more like a swapped variable in one branch than a deliberate design change. But I may be wrong, and if this is intended (or how the original game actually worked), it'd be great to hear that from the devs.
How to check it yourself
Kill a mob 3–5 levels below you solo, with no rested XP, and compare:
- your level 16 vs a level 13 mob: 73 (Forever) vs 83 (vanilla)
- your level 20 vs a level 16 mob: 80 (Forever) vs 92 (vanilla)
Please post your numbers, especially anyone with a Classic Era character to compare against.
Quest XP isn't affected, only kill XP.
EDIT: https://github.com/ClassicWoWCommunity/forever-bugs/issues/138#issuecomment-5871418253
Apparently it is intentional, however I feel like adding this kind of hidden xp nerfs while at the same time making hype announcements like how they added 5% xp buff to well fed or tent rested xp buff every hour etc. is weird. I'd like to keep this post up as a discussion post about how everyone feels about this change and at the same time as a PSA for people to know about while planning their leveling strategies.
Feels like an odd thing to nerf specifically too, if kill experience was the problem, why not globally nerf all kill xp instead of just lower level ones. If the reason was to rebalance xp around the newly added quests, why not rebalance the quest xp's instead? If it was done to balance xp around quests, to me that feels like they're trying to make questing the only viable leveling method. I'm confused about it, would really love to hear their reasoning for it.
Here is a graph better explaining what the new xp formula for green mobs mean, assuming the predicted new xp formula for green mobs is correct. The new formula change disproportionately punishes you way harder at lower levels compared to higher levels:
https://i.imgur.com/Qt9rFiI.png
hunter bias?