Why don't we just reduce the amount of xp needed to gain levels by half? then everybody wins!

No, see... my problem isn't that at all. It's the discrepancy between what different races have to do. Humans might need to spend 100 hours bashing to gain a level at 93, non-humans might have to spend 150 hours to gain the same level. Obviously that's not the actual figure, I wouldn't have a clue... but that's the essence of it.

Unless humans are SIGNIFICANTLY disadvantaged in being able to bash, and hence would need that bonus just to remain competitive, it shouldn't exist to unbalance the playing field.

At low levels, it doesn't really matter. The experience bonus doesn't really seem to have THAT much impact on time investment and return because experience gain is pretty easy.

At high levels, it has a huge impact.

being human is itself a disadvantage.

I dunno, I kinda like it.

Except you're forgetting that equilibrium and balance bonuses have the same effect on experience gain.

Imperial Merian Aqua vs. Human Aqua = If I wanted good con and sucky int, I would have stayed lucidian.

I don't think they have -anywhere near- the same effect. Nor do high int/str, high con, or joining groups.

I think you are mistaken.

For example, just using my hammers instead of my flails allows me to kill almost twice as fast.

Human experience bonus is what, 14-20%?
Mugwumps can bash probably about 20% faster than humans? (faster equilibrium aand higher int)
Aslaran can bash about 14% faster
Faeling can bash about 20% faster
Furrikin int-based classes can bash about 10% faster?
Merians can bash probably 10-20% faster?
High int races can kill at least 10% faster.
High str races can kill at least 10% faster.

Humans really don't have that big of a bonus when it comes down to it.

Uhh, how do you figure?

I gain experience on astral 250% the speed I did as a merian, including the human xp bonus.

Edit: Though that was actually with a really nice skull sphere and croc sphere, now that I think about it. Will have to look at it more though. Still, your numbers look completely made up.

Should increase experience across the board. No need for more Titans.

The numbers are rough estimates. Racial advantages are like 7%, aren't they? If you can attack 14% faster, then you earn experience 14% faster. If you also have higher intelligence/strength, you're doing more damage per attack, so again, you are gaining experience faster.

Unless i'm completely mistaken in my logic, a leve 2 experience bonus is somewhere in the neighborhood of a level 2 equilibrium bonus.

Say that a human kills 100 mobs an hour. Each mob is worth 100 xp. Said human earns, in total, 12000 xp.
And then a mugwump kills 116 mobs an hour. Each mob is worth 100 xp. Said mugwump earns, in total, 11600 xp.

Or am I missing something?

Humans and high Int/Str/Cha races are all about equal in level gaining for the longest time, even into Evolution if you start out and only put your lessons and IG bought credits in your skills. Yes, Humans get a bonus in Exp but it takes -more- hits than the Merian/Faeling/Elfen, some of these before theyre specialized, Elfen after.

It wasn't until I got Cudgel, which was after level 70 for me, that I started to be on par with Yendos' Amavan in terms of killing things. He had less skill than me most of the time, considering he switched from Geo's to Hartstone and Hartstone to Moondancers.

Now Evolution is not the same for everyone, not until the last evolution, we get them in different ways usually. Or so the file alludes. Even now, without my cudgel, at 14 Int I wouldnt be on par with Amavan. (And I be bloody stupid to not have it anways.)

Yeah, you're missing something. Faelings may have more speed, but they have about no strength, which means bashing for warriors is rather painful. Thus, Shadowlords at least do NOT have +20% experience gain.

Also, with the exception of ultra-high level astral, almost all bashing areas are not limited by time, but by how many mobs are available. In this case, speed becomes convenient but not a critical factor.

I've only played human characters up to about level 40, but they've always seemed to gain experience much faster than my characters of other races. I don't think they need this advantage, as Acrune has apparently tested the difference and it is definitely significant.

at high level, humans are by far the best warriors, both for combat and bashing. Awesome strength, good con, good intel for nice surge, and exp bonus gain. For warriors weapon speed can make a tremendous difference on balance recovery, resulting in three second recovery for a base balance race. They come to rely on crits more often to make use of their speed, as warrior weapons do not do the same damage as nightkiss/moonburst/staff/ etc, though at higher levels this becomes less of a consideration

In terms of exp gain and speed at higher levels, ONLY mugwump compares to the exp gain of a human for guardians and mages, and only if that mugwump has come to make himself incredibly tanky that he can take advantage of the astral plane--which most humans can do to the fairly high constitution.

So in general human>mugwump>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>alll other races in terms of experience gain.

Ooh ninja'ed by Xenthos.

Anywho, I've seen nothing in this thread so far, even nars's statement from the admin, that convinces me that turning off the Human's XP bonus at or near when their evolution is complete to even them out would be a bad thing.

With 300 speed weapons, my tae'dae hits every 3 seconds.

So I assume base speed people can get even faster than that.. havn't timed it because its too quick.

Didn't Melanchthon bash the last leg to Demi as a Shadowlord Faeling? Obviously can't be that horrible, considering how he seemed to fly that last bit. I've always heard they were crazy bashers. And i've always heard warriors say that strength matters minimally, and that its all about speed.

If that's wrong, I'm just going to stop listening to people

Attack speed is a huge plus at higher levels (especially as warriors) due to all the crits you'd get.