Diminishing Returns on pet battle XP?

[Castorjay]

I have been leveling pets in Frostfire Ridge this morning. I started with only the hat buff and my pets were getting about 2070xp per fight. I then put on both food buffs, and the XP dropped to 2021xp per fight. Obviously it wasn't the food buff that lowered the xp, but are there diminishing returns if you stay in the same area too long?

I have my Rematch queue set to rotate pets by level, so it wasn't that the pets were getting higher level and therefore less xp.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Ken68m]

Maybe a simple mistake to make, 2 pets in buffed fight while only 1 leveling pet in non-buffed fight? Will try out myself in a bit and see...

I did the run yesterday and saw no differences but when the opposing team had different levels the xp changed so that might have been the problem as others below are saying.

[Gráinne]

No, there are no diminishing returns.

However, the exact amount of XP rewarded by a battle depends on the level of your carry pet as well as the levels of the opposition, and the buffs you're carrying.

See for example, this:

http://www.warcraftpets.com/community/f ... =10&t=8829

The final equation after all those factors is:

experience = B*T*N*[(your_pet_level + 9) * (opponent_pet_level - your_pet_level + 5)]

This equation is interesting in that it is a quadratic equation (Ax^2 + Bx + C). This means that pet experience gained will increase as your pet level increases up to a point, but after that it will then decrease, creating a peak level (or levels) that gains the most experience out of all options. As an example, this is the Pandaria Tamer curve (with B = 1.0):

That thread has much, much more about the mechanics of how XP is calculated at the end of a battle, if you want to get your hands dirty with spreadsheets.

[Tffnynelson]

Some of the wild pets right outside the garrison are level 25 some are 23. That could be were the difference is coming from.

[Ranok]

I've done pet and toon leveling marathons where I worked the same area for two hours or more. Results stayed consistent with what I would've expected based on buffs, my carry pet's level, level of the opponent team, and level of the toon, never saw XP drop unexpectedly.

[Darolyn]

All of my unique pets are at 17 or higher. I had 55 left at 17 when I started in the Valley on my level 84 DK.

I'm using Rematch, with an extensive queue sorted by level. I used the same two battle pets, and a carry for all of my fights. I did NOT look at the levels of the pets I was battling.

Then I sorted my queue by type, just for kicks. I confirmed that they were still sorted by level, and XP within that level.

Out of nine humanoids at level 19, 7 went to 20, and 2 went to 21. But it went something like 20,20,20,20,21,20,21,20,20

So while the 21's should have been at the end of the list, they were randomly assorted through. I'm going to assume in those two battles, I fought level 25 pets, and the rest, I fought 23's?

I wish I'd looked at levels.

((In other news, my DK hit 85, and FINALLY has the Reins of the Thundering Jade Cloud Serpent. WHAT a grind on a PvP server. THANK YOU to the GM of Voodoo who struck a trade deal with me to allow me in to get that mount. <3))

There isn't diminishing returns when everything is equal, but if you're leveling the same pet, they'll get increasingly, then DECREASINGLY, different amounts of XP as they approach the level of the pet they're fighting. (Which you say you didn't do...teach me to read the OP all the way through...)

I wish I'd looked at levels.

[Jerebear]

Your numbers are pretty close to be in the range of fighting level 25 wild pets and then level 23 wild pets.

As an example:

If your carry pet was level 21 for all fights, then

Safari Hat and fighting level 25 pets nets 2092-2093 EXP for the carry pet
Safari Hat + both buffs and fighting level 23 pets nets 2021 EXP for the carry pet

Without more specifics and hopefully some screenshots, it would be difficult to pinpoint, but they have not had diminishing returns on pet EXP up until now and it would be odd to add it in this weekend without a major patch or patch note.