Cartel XP Boosts: Do they work?

[ElevenBfour]

Normally when I finish a planet doing all quests (minus the Heroics that I cannot solo), I am either right at the required level for the next planet or half a level away. If I use a 3 hour exp boost while doing all quests (minus the Heroics that I cannot solo) , then I am about 1-2 levels above the required level for the next planet.

 

This has been my experience. I'm leveling a Shadow now always having exp boosts. When I level'd my Trooper I found myself doing the Bonus series' and some Space missions to keep myself current. With the Boosts, not doing any Bonus Series' or Space missions, I'm almost 5 levels ahead on Balmorra.

 

So IMO, they are working.

[HelinCarnate]

There was a thread awhile back that outlined this. What happens is that they lowered xp for F2P and then "boosted" it back up for subs. So if you are F2P you will see the full 25% boost, but if you are a sub you are already getting 4.something % increase that the game sees as a "boost" so it only adds the difference which is slightly over 20% when using a xp boost.

 

The boost does stack with rested xp though. You will get your 20ish % boost above rested xp.

 

Yup, this is correct. The baseline is 4% lower. So if something used to give 100xp, the f2p people would get the new baseline of around 96. The subs already get a 4.16%ish bonus to bring that back to 100 but that does not stack with the +25%xp stims so it looks like you only get +20%.

 

Rested and legacy boosts do stack however.

Edited January 2, 2013 by HelinCarnate

[theSCARAYone]

You won't notice the boost on below lvl 30 toons but after that it makes a noticable difference. Me and a friend did balmorra together and I gained 2 levels while he only gained 1 after 3 hours of running around. I had the xp buff and he didn't.

[Meedz]

I had really good experience with the experience boosts as a sub. I mostly do class quests and heroics on each planet and flashpoints/wz make me higher than required level by 2-3 by the end of the planet with the boosts until about level 40. Even slightly before that they start making less of a difference but you're close enough to 50 to do it without them. It definitely makes leveling an alt easier.

[Icestar]

Maybe it is +25% on the non-rested XP number, then has rested added on top?

 

It would be awesome if a DEV actually answered how this works

[DarkkChaos]

I started using the boosts on my new toon - and YES, I very much noticed a difference! (I am a sub).

 

I only purchase the XP ones - not the exploration...or any other boost....I always have the 3hr XP boost active now, even with rested XP and I find it makes a VERY large difference!

 

It's 25% more XP.....how could it NOT make a difference. Everything you do.....25% more XP.

[beyondkilling]

they work im on tatoine atm and without it i get 8200 for completing quest with it i get 8800

[Alec_Fortescue]

I levelled to 50 within a week and a day by using xp boosts. So yeah, they work :-]

[AuckaLukaum]

Today I started a new alt and have been using the 25% XP boosts that last three hours. I have had these active the entire time.

 

On my other characters, it's always been that if I do all the missions, bonus objectives and skip most all the heroic missions, that keeps me at the same level as the current area I'm in without having to do WZ's or FP's as filler.

 

I finished the 1st planet at lvl 11 and the 2nd planet at lvl 16. It struck me as odd that the last mob I fought before getting into my ship was a lvl 16 champion. It looks like it's exactly the same as characters I've played with no boost.

 

Of course, it would be silly to think I should be a flat 25% higher and be at lvl 20 because of the way levels and XP scale and increase, but still shouldn't be the same as not using them at all. If it is working, maybe I got an extra level out of it, but even then it works out to be around a 1% overall xp increase.

 

If that is the way 25% scales with leveling thresholds, it doesn't seem close to worthwhile to use. Has anyone had different experiences using these?

 

I have leveled several alts to 50 since the Cartel Market went live, and the XP boosts provide a significant increase in XP that I can measure by comparing gains on the same quests/kills at the same level.

 

For instance, with rested xp, plus the 30% legacy flashpoint buff, plus the 25% cartel flashpoint buff, at level the proper level for Cadimemu, soloing one of the Champion droids nets about 10k xp per kill. It is about 3500 or 4000 without the above increases.

 

You can also notice it in space missions, getting 71 or 72 xp killing the defense satellites, for instance, instead of the typical 50.

 

I have been able to pretty much power level a couple alts this way, by always keeping the XP boosts active.

[TheTheifLord]

It seems weird, i used them on my alt the other day and i finished my first 2 planets under level. But my first time through the planet on my main i was either on level or one ahead, so idk why it is doing this. For some reason they almost seem to work in reverse for me. and i am a sub, have been since a year ago

[Selethar]

I use the "generic" boosters and yes they work. They cut about an hour off of 1-10 and they work for everything. Example is social coin. Normally like 950 with boost you get over 1100. I am a sub.

[Arlon_Nabarlly]

they work im on tatoine atm and without it i get 8200 for completing quest with it i get 8800

 

I wouldn't describe that as working. That's less than a 7% increase when it's supposed to grant 25%

[AlixMV]

Just chiming in to note that yes, it definitely works. But if you're using them at low levels, you may not see as significant a gain since you're getting a percentage benefit out of a very small number to start with. (20% of 100 XP isn't going to be very much).

 

At higher levels, though...

 

I was running my Sith Inquisitor with a friend of mine who got a few levels ahead of me when I was around level 45 because he started running Flashpoints and I didn't. We had the exact same Legacy XP boosts implemented. I popped a Major XP boost when we started Corellia, and we compared quest rewards for our shared quests: I was definitely getting a few hundred more per mission than he was and started closing the level gap before his character hit 50.

[Khevar]

I'm sort of addicted to the XP Boosts now. After my fifth level 50, and I started bringing my sixth toon through his storyline, I had an aversion to doing the same side-quests over and over.

 

If I buy all of the legacy xp perks for exporation and class quests, then get the +25 xp boost consumable on top of that, I can level with minimal side quests needed. If I ever fall behind, I can do some side quests or some space missions or warzones, but the bulk of the time I'm mostly doing class quests.

 

It's not the same as power or speed leveling, it's just being able to skip over stuff I've already seen several times before.

[Tommot]

Someone else said it best. A major problem with swtor is that the story experience is heavily watered down and it's extremely transparent when you're watching the clock on your boosters!

 

Someone else may have mentioned it already, but the timer stops when you're in cut scenes. Very easy to test for yourself.

[Khevar]

Someone else may have mentioned it already, but the timer stops when you're in cut scenes. Very easy to test for yourself.

This is correct. Note that the clock stops for other timed buffs, but not their cooldowns (which is to your benefit).

 

For example If you fire a Rocket Boots (15 second duration, 30 second cooldown), turn in a quest and watch the cutscene, when the cutscene is over your rocket boots are still going but the cooldown has been finished.