Dungeon quest XP: what the 50% cut actually applies to

Dungeon experience is being argued about again. A creator video published on 24 October, NOHITJEROME’s dungeon leveling guide, describes “a 50% nerf to dungeon quest XP”, and on 26 October a Reddit discussion went back over whether dungeons are still worth running. Neither is new patch news. The changes being discussed date from early October, and the original wording is narrower than a flat halving of dungeon quest experience.

What the 1 October notes actually say

In the 1 October development notes, Blizzard said it had decided to reduce the experience from dungeon quests after feedback about leveling speed. The rule itself reads: dungeon quests now reward 50% less extra experience beyond normal quest values.

The reduction applies to the extra experience above what a normal quest pays. It does not halve the whole quest reward. If a dungeon quest paid a normal quest’s experience plus a bonus, the bonus was halved and the normal part was left alone. The notes do not say how large the bonus was, so they do not give a final figure.

Kills went the other way

A week later, on 8 October, Blizzard made two changes to experience from killing creatures in dungeons:

• Experience from killing creatures in dungeons was increased by about 20%.
• A bug was fixed. Party experience for killing lower-level enemies had been penalized according to the highest-level party member. It now follows each player’s own level, as in Classic Era.

Blizzard said it expected the two changes together to dramatically increase dungeon experience for most players. One rule stayed: if any party member is at a vastly higher level than the enemy, nobody in the party gets experience from it.

Four separate things

1. The dungeon quest bonus: halved on 1 October.
2. Creature kills in dungeons: about 20% more, from 8 October.
3. Level gaps in a party: judged per player since 8 October, except for a vastly higher-level member, which still cancels experience for everyone.
4. Travel: the time spent getting to and between dungeons, which no patch note addresses.

Combining these into a single percentage needs figures the notes do not provide, and players in the Reddit thread offered several that disagree.

What the notes do support is simpler: dungeon quests pay less of a premium than they did in September, and dungeon kills pay more than they did before 8 October.