Correct me if I’m wrong, but the current Exp. All function modifies the gained and distributed EXP in Parties as follows:
Number of people - Total EXP - EXP per person
1 - 100% - 100%
2 - 150% - 75%
3 - 175% - 58%
4 - 200% - 50%
5 - 225% - 45%
and is applied only when the members are nearby.
It sounds great at first if you imagine that you have a few players who are all killing monsters fast. But that’s not going to be the case. Firstly, because it only works if you are close (ie not another corner of the map), where you’ll both be aiming for the same monsters. And secondly, it makes any player with a more support, a defense oriented role, or a lame non-AoE dps, feel like a leecher to at least some degree.
The party system should be made in a way that encourages partying, instead of rewarding selection of the “best” classes and exclusion of anyone that will just make the grind even slower rather than having them join the fun as if there was nothing to lose by doing it.
So at first I was going to suggest higher numbers (to where the third column is more like at least 100-90-80-75-70 or something), but actually, would it be wrong if it was simply 100% across the board?
Meaning, any partymember who saw a monster die by any partymember would get full EXP. 5 players walk towards 3 monsters, kill them all and get 300% worth of EXP each.
It would be broken if it worked no matter where you are on the map, but since it is limited to nearby and gives an incentive for the party to stick together, I don’t think it’d be too much. Since it would essentially mean everyone levels as fast as the fastest member with the buffs.
In the end it’d encourage people to join up in random parties all the time, it would make serious support-characters a viable option, and help out classes who got the short end of the balancing stick or are weaker by design.
Personally I’d love to see this game be one where people can solo if they want (way more currently seem to than I expected actually, but they’re also mostly all the stronger classes), but would only possibly benefit from joining up with other people.