Pets in normal missions

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Wow that'd make playing something like a Mastermind pretty crappy if pets absorbed XP.

On a related tangent when you Confuse enemies and they kill something you'll only get a fraction of the XP you would have gotten if you had killed whatever it was directly. Maybe that's what you were thinking with this?

Wait... I thought NPC allies did. Or is that just in Mission Architect?

Even if NPC allies do absorb XP in normal missions there are so relatively few of them out there that it'd hardly be worth worrying about. I've never really noticed if they do or not because it rarely comes up as a possibility to begin with. *shrugs*

Pretty sure just in the MA, as that is the only place where the devs have no direct control over how many helper-monkeys are on any given map, or how uber they are.

It is worth noting that the fraction of XP you get is still a very large fraction. Don't worry about confuse losing you XP. You get slightly less per kill, but your killing speed and killing safety go up to more than offset that.

The lost xp is due to someone "not on your team" dealing damage to the mobs. Same as if two teams of players jump in on the same group of npcs. As long as you don't sit back and let confused mobs do ALL the damage/killing, you will indeed get the lion's share of XP.

Well, that's not quite accurate. The amount xp lost to the damage done by confused enemies is a fraction of what you would lose to an unteamed player's damage.

Per the wiki:
An enemy defeated entirely by Confused critters is worth no experience. An enemy that's partially damaged by Confused critters is worth partial experience. However, the split is not perfectly proportional, like it is when multiple competing teams fight the same enemy. When a Confused critter damages another, only 1/4 of its damage counts toward "stealing" experience. The other 3/4 is removed from the target's maximum health before comparing how much damage everyone dealt to it.

Pets do not steal XP. NPC allies do, both in and out of AE.

However, most NPCs in missions are pets, not allies. In fact, EVERY NPC before they added AE is a pet, and only a few from between then and i18 are allies. A LOT of NPCs in Tips and Praetorian content are allies.

There's a really easy way to tell if an NPC is a pet or ally. First, figure out who the NPC is following. Then, let it get the killing blow on an enemy. If it says "You defeated" or "Teammate defeated", then it's a pet, and you get full XP. If it says "NPC defeated", the NPC is an ally, and takes a share of the XP (I think it uses the same formula as a confused foe).

Another way to check is to die. Pets will stop fighting and be ignored by enemies until they're reclaimed by a player. Allies will fight until they die or have nothing left in aggro range.

There's an even easier way to tell. Watch while the NPC is attacking. If the damage numbers are orange it's a pet. If they are gray it is an NPC ally.

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

Going by this, is it possible that an ally could level up?