Experience penalty/character level difference

[Sincere_420 0]

just wondering if we will get penalized if I start a game with my level 28 and my GF brings in her level 35?

[jurrasicpunk 0]

There will be a penalty to your experience gains but I don't think it will be too bad. I had a friend join me on a game when I was right at the end getting to the Nameless Guardians and he made a new character on Coop to play along with me. Even with him being just a level 1 Shadow Warrior, he was still getting some decent experience, and was actually leveling fairly fast. Power leveling kind of thing I'd say.

[Mystix123 60]

I second what Jurrasicpunk said. The penalty won't be very large, especially with a smaller gap like that which will become more irrelevant as you increase in levels.

 

I ran some tests on a new Campaign on Bronze using a secondary account on my PS3 (offline co-op):

Seraphim Level 1 (Solo)
- Inquisition Guard Level 1 = 12 XP

Seraphim Level 1, Seraphim Level 73
- Inquisition Guard Level 1 = 0 XP (Level 1 Killed)
- Inquisition Guard Level 1 = 0 XP (Level 73 Killed)

Seraphim Level 1, Shadow Warrior Level 17
- Inquisition Guard Level 1 = 2 XP (Level 1 Killed)
- Inquisition Guard Level 1 = 2 XP (Level 17 Killed)

Seraphim Level 1, Shadow Warrior Level 12
- Inquisition Guard Level 1 = 3 XP (Level 1 Killed)
- Inquisition Guard Level 1 = 3 XP (Level 17 Killed)

All helpers received 0 experience.

 

As you can see, no matter who landed the blow, the same penalized experience was granted to the level 1.

The experience penalty did have something to do with the level of the helper, but also there is a consideration for the level of the character against the level of the enemy (separate from the level of the helper) as none of the helpers received experience while the level 1 did. This "Character Level vs. Enemy Level" factor is what will cause your level gap to be largely irrelevant as you continue to play (and may allow you to catch up to your girlfriend's character's level over time, especially if you can stack more experience Per Kill than she has).

 

Hope that helps.