XP nerf testing results

The results of my testing of the ally XP nerf:

What counts as an "ally"?
All "Ally" mission objectives, all "Release Captive" objectives, all "Defend an object" objectives, and all "Escort" mission objectives.

What does not count?
Allied patrols and fights where one side is an ally, "Fight a Boss" objectives where the boss is an ally, as well as the obvious ones: "destroy an object", "fight a boss", etc.

Does it matter if the ally objective is mandatory or not?
No.

Does it matter if the ally is a custom mob or not?
No.

Does the difficulty of the ally matter?
No.

Do the powers of the ally matter?
No.

How much is XP reduced?
Each additional ally removes 10% of the XP for a defeat, so the formula is: RewardXP = BaseXP * (0.9 ^ NumAllies). For example, having five allies would reduce the XP for defeating an opponent by 41%.

Are ticket drops reduced?
I haven't tested this, but I assume so. I expect the formula used gives the same results as the XP reduction formula.

Here's some testing that I did:

Character used: a level 7 archery/nrg blaster on default difficulty.

Control: killed a +0 Skull minion outside the Kings Row AE. 16xp.

Story arc used: #67335

Mission 1: 4 combat allies, 4 noncombat hostages, player SK'd up to level 15
+0 Vahzilok (non-custom) minions solo'd by my character consistently earned 7xp (43.75% normal exp).
If allies helped, the exp was further reduced proportional to the damage inflicted by the allies.

Mission 2: 3 combat allies, 3 noncombat hostages, player SK'd up to level 15
+0 Clockwork (non-custom) minions solo'd by my character consistently earned 9xp (56.25% normal exp).
If allies helped, the exp was further reduced proportional to the damage inflicted by the allies.

Mission 3: 2 combat allies that are gradually spawned as triggered objectives as the mission progresses, 0 noncombat hostages, player SK'd up to level 20.
+0 Freakshow (non-custom) minion solo'd by my character before any allies were spawned earned 16xp (100% normal exp; low sample size though).
+0 Freakshow (non-custom) minion solo'd by my character after 1 ally was spawned earned 14xp (87.5% normal exp; low sample size though).
+0 Freakshow (non-custom) minion solo'd by my character after 2 allies were spawned earned 13xp (81.25% normal exp; low sample size though).
If allies helped, the exp was further reduced proportional to the damage inflicted by the allies.



You really found that "release captive" objectives penalize exp? That seems nuts. Your theory is consistent with my data though.

I love how they utterly screw over the atrsy types who've been their biggest supporters all along - why should mish writers have to experiment to figure this out? Why can't the devs at least TELL those of you tryiing to be writes in AE when the rules change and in what ways.

Nope, you have to go figure it out for yourselves. Big help, devs, to those who have been supportnig you all along. (Not me, them.)

This has killed both of my story arcs.

One was designed to be soloable by anyone (with the aid of two captives who can be released and help). The second was designed to be a TF. So release captives (who then run away); items to destroy etc.

* Heard in game from a farmer "pfft, I don't need allies so devs failed".

remove exp fully from AE = problems solved :P

Thank you, Katie V for testing this "fix." Too bad it couldn't be tested thoroughly by people who are knowledgeable about and truly care about MA before it was slammed through to the live servers. Obviously after almost a year of use this exploit had to be squashed immediately and there was no time to test it to minimize the collateral damage.

Big thanks to KatieV for doing some datamining on this (I'm still interested to see if Arcanaville gets in on this as well). Looks like the problem is about as bad as I originally feared when I read the notes, but focused on different (less logical) allies than I originally thought.

Okay guys, we're starting to go OT here. We can rehash all the old AE drama in other threads. Can we try to keep this one to data and findings based on what is appearing in the missions?

Kvetch about the nerf here.

Opine about Killing Rewards Here

ive also done some more datamining too, and i tested battles with an ally and patrols with allies and both of them reduce xp as well

this blanket fix of an exploit is affected EVERY allied thing in the mish (as i stated earlier but hadnt done enough datamining)

I did some testing. On my test, Even the first ally reduces XP by 10%, every additional Ally reduces by 10% of the previous number. It's exact down the the last integer.

XP(1) = 0.90 * XP(0)
XP(2) = 0.90 * XP(1)
XP(3) = 0.90 * XP(2)

L50 Freak Tank		
XXXXX     	XX/BB	Last/Next
15007		
13507	90.00%	90.00%
12156	81.00%	90.00%
10941	72.91%	90.00%

Ok here's another question: Since the number of critters in an allied patrol or battle is determined by the player's difficulty setting, does that affect the xp reduction? Is the reduction per critter or per detail?

Since patrols and battles seem to only affect xp while they are physically present on the map, does this work the same way for actual allies? If an ally is defeated, does it continue to reduce xp? Does an ally reduce xp if it is a chained objective, and hasn't spawned yet?

And I'm guessing this affects Dev's Choice missions as well, but it doesn't hurt to make sure.

Level 51 Advanced Drone in the first mission of "Pandas vs Rikti," which contains battles and a captive, awards 1,186 inf. Level 51 Advanced Drone in the RWZ awards 6,396. So Dev's Choice arcs are definitely affected.