Shattered Kingdoms

Recently I have been training killing around 8 NPCs in a turn, casting Spirit Horde, but I seem to move just as slow with xp if I were to kill one, so where do you get your xp from, landing the spell, or doing damage? At this rate it really looks like from landing one spell, whether it hits 8 NPCs at once or not it looks like it only counts for one hit. Can some one explain? I think this question may be confusing so let me break it down.

XP for doing damage? or XP for landing a spell? and if so XP Landing one single spell on multiple targets, or XP(mulitplied by the number of NPCs) That I land a spell on?

I know you get XP for doing damage, and I've learned that you get xp from spells (at least rezzing, and enchanting, and gates).

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that for not failing to cast the spell, you get some xp (whether they resist or not), and whatever damage you do gets you some more.

Somone'll have to verify this, though.

Doing physical damage to a NPC nets you some experience, determined by:
Their level
The type of NPC (Some NPCs just give more experience IMO)
Their aura relative to yours (opposite aura gets more experience)
The familiarity of their area.

Doing damage through a spell or skill, be it harm, spear of faith, cause light, backstab/circle stab, or spirit horde actually gets you -more- experience, I think it's double. So if you're a priest, spear of faithing one NPC to death is equivalent to killing two with a mace or flail.

While I've never leveled a shaman past spirit horde, I don't see any reason why spirit horde is any different: Are the NPCs you're killing eight of at a time lower level than the ones that you're killing one by one?

they are the same NPC. Same difficulty (perfect match) opposite aura I do believe

Unless the code is broken, you will get more experience for killing 8 at a time, than killing 1 at a time. (This assumes the NPCs in both scenarios are identical.) I've seen various warlock spells used on upwards of 15 at a time, that allowed the caster to gain a significant amount of XP per kill. And, Edoras is right, you get experience off both the damage given, as well as the successful cast of the spell.

Also, keep in mind, just because they're "perfect match", doesn't mean they're at your level. They could be a few below you, which means you won't be getting much experience per kill. It might be time to find a new area.

sleeps

I would advise you not to train on NPCs that are perfect matches unless you're almost GM (In which case every NPC in the game save a few will be perfect matches.). The upper "tough challenge" range is the best to go on.

I personally recall helping level a shaman to GM by fighting 15 champion+ NPCs at a time: That was some broken experience.

The biggest "problem," if you can call it that, with using spirit horde to level is that you have to ensure that you're fighting as many NPCs as you can at a time, because if you're only going to be hitting four or five, it's probably better to just axe them to death; This is because using spirit horde, while it gives double experience, also requires you to rest much more often than just rolling melee over people and keeping yourself healed.

Also worth asking is if all 8 enemies were able to fight back. It is my understanding that helpless defenders do not grant nearly as many experience points.

I've found that when I try to figure out what works and what doesn't.... if I think of XP as candy and living things in the MUD as piñatas, common sense usually prevails. You want to be smashing efficiently and getting the most candy for your swings, after all. Using your Ness home-run strike on a wussy little piñata filled with cheap chicles is not the best idea.

Go for broke. Aim for El Rey de Los Dulces. Sunder his delectable court.

Regret nothing. Use a cluster bomb.

It depends on your Damage output I always thought, that is why Hellions when they are looking for quick exp like to blow things up with Hellfire, its fast, and damaging there for brings in a lot of Experience.

It is directly related to damage, but damage from skills/spells give you more experience per point of damage dealt. That's why hellions are interested in hellfire instead of just beating stuff up physically: They get more experience for killing a NPC with hellfire than just for killing it with physical damage.

So a good example, and I don't know if this is true or not would be. You gain 1 point of Experience for every 1 point of damage from melee and melee skills. But you get 1.5 Experience for every 1 point of Damage from Spells.