Why do I get more exp for the same kill after leveling up?

Question

In WoW, I have a level 90 druid taking my level 36 Hunter through Razorfen Downs. At level 36, I was getting 90 exp per kill of a certain mob, and upon leveling to level 37, I get 94 exp for the same kills.

Why is there an increase in exp gain after I level up? Here are my possible solutions and I would like to know if anyone can point me in the right direction to find out more.

(1) The difference in level between the runner (level 90) and the runnee (level 36) is less after the lower level increases, so there is less of a 'penalty' for the level increase.

(2) For some reason a lower level character is penalized for being in a higher level dungeon and as soon as the appropriate level is attained, the exp is maximized.

Any other ideas?

Answer 1

It's because the level difference between the high and low level characters is smaller.

When you're in a two-player group, experience is calculated as follows:

CL1 = Character 1 Level, assumed to be the higher level character
CL2 = Character 2 Level
MXP = Solo Mob Experience, as calculated above for CL1
XP1 = MXP * CL1 / (CL1 + CL2), the experience awarded to character 1
XP2 = MXP * CL2 / (CL1 + CL2), the experience awarded to character 2

If you were both the same level, you would get the same amount of experience. Since the level 90 is a higher level than your level 36 hunter, the 90 is winning most of the experience, but that experience is wasted, so you don't see it. As your hunter levels, you'll gain a proportionally larger share of the experience because the 90's level is static.

Thus, you can expect to continue gaining more experience with each level until you begin to out-level the mobs in the dungeon.