Possible XP Discrepancy in MSR

[Spectrum]

I’m not certain if this is a bug, but it significantly impacted my gameplay experience, so I wanted to bring it up for clarification. My friend and I have been leveling a pair of characters together, progressing steadily up to level 38. We recently joined a MSR, where we were placed on separate teams but remained together throughout the raid, from pylons to the bowl. The only noticeable difference was that, being on different teams, we had different grates to attack.

 

After completing the raid, I noticed a major discrepancy in our XP gains. While I leveled from 38 to 39, my friend reached level 41—gaining nearly two full levels more than I did. The primary difference between us is that they are a Brute with AoE attacks, while I am a Scrapper using Street Justice, which is heavily single-target focused. Does AoE inherently grant more XP by tagging additional targets? If so, why does this apply in a MSR but not in a standard team? The assumption was that XP distribution would work the same way in a raid. If this is intended, it also means that characters with more single-target powersets are actively discouraged from participating in raids, as they get significantly less reward from it, and could/should spend that time doing just about anything else.

 

Steps to Reproduce:

• Form two characters of similar level but different power sets (one AoE-heavy, one single-target focused).
• Join a MSR and participate in the same fights while assigned to different teams.
• Compare XP gain at the end of the raid.

Observed Behavior:

• The Brute with AoE attacks gained significantly more XP than the Scrapper with primarily single-target abilities, despite both staying together and engaging the same enemies throughout the raid.

 

Expected Behavior:

Some variance in XP gain is understandable, but a two-level gap seems excessive. If this is an intended mechanic, clarification on how XP distribution works in MSRs would be appreciated. As it stands, this disparity undermined our ability to level together, forcing me to catch up separately—defeating the purpose of playing as a duo.

 

Summary:

• Me: Scrapper (Street Justice/Ninjitsu)
• Friend: Brute (Psi Assault/?)
• Both characters started at Level 38
• Both characters have 2x XP gain buff, no patrol XP, no additional XP gain buffs from any source, and have only been online around roughly the same times.
• Different teams, same fights, vastly different XP gain
   

TL;DR Question:

Does AoE inherently provide significantly more XP due to hitting more targets, or could there be another factor at play like the League being made of multiple teams, and each team gains at its own rate?

Any insight into how XP is calculated in this scenario would be appreciated, as this has made continuing together frustrating due to the unexpected gap. I can also see this discouraging me from playing further, as I might want to play something I think is a cool concept, but knowing I play with a friend, would only be incentivized to play powersets with strong AoEs to ensure we were getting similar experience while skipping anything else that I would find more fun, thus leading to more frustrations and dissatisfaction with my play experience. As this only arose after the MSR, I have to believe its an issue with the League/raid EXP distribution itself, but that still presents an issue in that it would dissuade people from joining those raids if they weren't already 50, in it only for merits, or spec'd heavily into AoE attacks; this means anyone else would instead be strongly encouraged to SKIP a particularly useful and somewhat fun community activity because just doing regular PI paper or radio missions or whatever would be a better use of time.

Edited February 6 by Spectrum
formatting.

[Rudra]

When you are in a league but on different teams, you will each earn xp as fast as your respective teams. Higher damage teams will earn xp and inf' faster than lower damage teams. That said, I have to add that what you encountered is not limited to leagues and the differences in teams. I have a friend that we both decided we were going to make brand new characters and level them up together. She made a MM and I made a Dominator. We only played those characters together and we teamed just with each other. And she was always 2-3 bars closer to leveling than I was. (Edit again: Once, I got as close as 1 bar behind her, but at the end of the next mission, I was again almost 3 full bars behind her.) So yeah, there is something going on there. However, being on different teams was the cause of your deviation, most likely.

 

Edited February 6 by Rudra
Edited to add a comma and remove multiple words after the comma.