Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - Help/Tips/Tricks Tactician & Importance of Optional EXP

Greetings, all!

We're playing on Tactician mode and got to the end of act 1. Our group (especially me) was curious how important it was to get every last bit of EXP from killing innocents, doing side quests, etc. More EXP helps at least in theory since it gets us higher levels sooner (and sometimes gets us higher levels overall), but how much does this matter?

What's the expected end level for a group that reached about level 8.5 in act 1 then did only mandatory stuff for EXP the rest of the game? What's the expected end level for this same group if they got all optional EXP from side quests, killing innocents for EXP, etc.? What other notable stuff is there to discuss presently?

Your XP is equalised so sidequests are best employed for boosting your level between larger level gaps in fights. You do not need to kill any innocents to get ahead, the XP return is insignificant and the game is well balanced in terms of XP.

Well... "well balanced" is questionable, at least in the first act.

I'd prefer peaceful solutions with good NPCs (like Slane very much is one) to be the better XP sources than ripping them apart.

Of course, all magisters and similar scum should be considered KOS and, therefore, XP givers.

Slane is a bit of an odd one. I can't think of another NPC that you don't want to kill that gives you so much more XP (and rewards) for doing so. I do always kill him and always feel mildly dirty for doing so. Perhaps I shouldn't.

Anyway it doesn't much matter what you do in Act 1. As soon as you get to Act 2 what you did (and how much XP you got) in Act 1 doesn't really make any difference as the numbers get so much bigger. It is like starting again really.

Except for the ship battle... I prefer doing this one @ level 9, not 8.

my only gripe with how exp works in peace vs murder scenarios is that typically using persuasion nets you less exp than running through people with a hammer like a maniac

like, i get it, exp can more easily be distributed on a per-npc-killed basis, but i sank civil ability levels into persuasion specifically so i could play the game more diplomatically, levels i could have used in thievery (which, aside from getting caught, has absolutely no downside to its use), why am i being punished for it? exp gain should be equalized so that using persuasion vs not using it becomes a legitimate roleplay decision, rather than factoring practicality into the equation. if you sank points into a persuasion option, the game should not punish you by giving you less experience

don't get me wrong, this in no way necessitates killing people indiscriminately or being a villain, but it is a little annoying that taking the violent approach is the more rewarding one exp-wise

edit: in slane's case, it's a completely optional fight that is also very challenging, so it makes sense that the exp gain would be significant. i'm talking more about fights that aren't necessarily hard and can be skipped if you want to play a character with some form of morals/you have invested in persuasion

Does being at level 8 or 9 at the end of act 1 change the maximum level reachable by endgame? If so, to what?

No, the difference is very, very small. I think a meager little "innocent" (in that case: not so innocent, because I hate everyone in Divine Order rags now after my first playthrough) kill in Arx will net more XP than 8 -> 9.

However:

a) Alexandar battle is insanely hard @ level 7 (if you don't cheese him with deathfog like I usually do)
b) Ship battle is much easier @ 9
c) You can start Driftwood with much better gear if you at least reach level 9 because of the vendors

alexander battle isn't that hard provided you aren't screwed by rng concerning the drillworm, as long as you prebuff/pre-position

In Arx, I got ~90,000 XP for giving a dog his ball. It was just over there. It took me about a minute to go get it for him. There was no combat involved. There were no prerequisite quests, or seemingly anything connected to it. Dog just lost his ball and couldn't get it himself. I don't think I got 90,000 XP in all of act 1.

For the Alexandar and the drillworm fight there is a cheesy way of starting it if you have a summoner in your party: Summon a blood incarnate and move it directly to where the metamorph is. You can kill the metamorph in one turn (direct damage + mosquito swarm). After that, you can start this fight normally.
Of course your party is hidden away meanwhile.