Experience point
From WoWWiki
An experience point (abbreviated EXP or XP) is a unit of measurement for character level advancement. Advancing to the next level requires a fixed amount of experience points which is determined by a formula.
In World of Warcraft, you generally only get XP from killing mobs and completing quests, but you can also get some from exploring.
This is based on the concept that as characters defeat stronger enemies, they gain combat experience that allows them to improve their skills. This system is adapted from D&D and is present in some form or another in almost all roleplaying games.
Mob XP
(This information does not appear to be correct. For the correct information see Formulas:Mob XP.)
When you kill a mob of a certain minimum level, you get XP. That minimum level depends on your current level. There is a formula to calculate that minimum level: take your level, add 1, divide by 5, and round up. If you get less than 5, erase that number and replace it with 5. The result is how many levels below you your minimum experience-yielding mob level is. In short,
MML = CL - max(ceil((CL + 1)/5), 5)
If you'd rather just look it up, here is a table listing the minimum mob level that yields experience for a given character level:
| Char Lvl | Min Mob Lvl | Char Lvl | Min Mob Lvl | Char Lvl | Min Mob Lvl | Char Lvl | Min Mob Lvl | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 21 | 16 | 41 | 32 | 61 | 49 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 22 | 17 | 42 | 33 | 62 | 50 | |||
| 3 | 1 | 23 | 18 | 43 | 34 | 63 | 51 | |||
| 4 | 1 | 24 | 19 | 44 | 35 | 64 | 51 | |||
| 5 | 1 | 25 | 19 | 45 | 35 | 65 | 52 | |||
| 6 | 2 | 26 | 20 | 46 | 36 | 66 | 53 | |||
| 7 | 2 | 27 | 21 | 47 | 37 | 67 | 54 | |||
| 8 | 3 | 28 | 22 | 48 | 38 | 68 | 55 | |||
| 9 | 4 | 29 | 23 | 49 | 39 | 69 | 55 | |||
| 10 | 5 | 30 | 23 | 50 | 39 | 70 | 56 | |||
| 11 | 6 | 31 | 24 | 51 | 40 | |||||
| 12 | 7 | 32 | 25 | 52 | 41 | |||||
| 13 | 8 | 33 | 26 | 53 | 42 | |||||
| 14 | 9 | 34 | 27 | 54 | 43 | |||||
| 15 | 10 | 35 | 27 | 55 | 43 | |||||
| 16 | 11 | 36 | 28 | 56 | 44 | |||||
| 17 | 12 | 37 | 29 | 57 | 45 | |||||
| 18 | 13 | 38 | 30 | 58 | 46 | |||||
| 19 | 14 | 39 | 31 | 59 | 47 | |||||
| 20 | 15 | 40 | 31 | 60 | 48 |
Warlocks probably have to pay more attention to this than anyone else, because, even at level 70, they still have to kill green or better mobs to acquire a Soul Shard.
Quest XP
I pulled the formula for quest XP by studying the XP rewards provided for various quests and various levels on http://www.wowdbu.com.
Character_Level <= Quest_Level + 5 : Quest_XP = (100 %) or Full_Quest_XP Character_Level = Quest_Level + 6 : Quest_XP = ( 80 %) or ROUND(Full_Quest_XP * 0.8 / 5) * 5 Character_Level = Quest_Level + 7 : Quest_XP = ( 60 %) or ROUND(Full_Quest_XP * 0.6 / 5) * 5 Character_Level = Quest_Level + 8 : Quest_XP = ( 40 %) or ROUND(Full_Quest_XP * 0.4 / 5) * 5 Character_Level = Quest_Level + 9 : Quest_XP = ( 20 %) or ROUND(Full_Quest_XP * 0.2 / 5) * 5 Character_Level >= Quest_Level + 10 : Quest_XP = ( 10 %) or ROUND(Full_Quest_XP * 0.1 / 5) * 5
Some lower level quests (Quest_Level < 10) seem to give full XP only for Character_Level <= Quest_Level + 4, differing by 1 level with the table above.
For the table look at the DifficultyColors Page.
There is also a theory that all quests give the same xp regardless of color until they turn "grey". This was the topic of an article on Wowinsider.
