How does each class level up? (Why are some faster than others?)

[Tartan]

It's been years since I played DS1, but I just finished DS2 and while I'm waiting for Broken World to come in the mail I figured I'd dust this game off and give it another try.

So, in DS2, so long as you have a spell or weapon selected of the correct type, you'll gain the same experience in battle as everyone else in the party. For instance, if you're a Nature Mage with a healing spell selected, even if there's no need it to cast it during a fight you'll get the exact same Nature Mage experience as the archer who killed the beast got Ranged experience, etc.

Well, this clearly isn't the case in DS1. My current party breakdown is this:

2x Melee: 23 & 21
1x Ranged: 18
2x Combat Mage: 13 & 13
3x Nature Mage: 14, 12 & 12 (I'll be replacing one with a archer soon)

My guess is that experience is based almost exclusively on damage inflicted (maybe they threw the mages a bone and included health healed). This model could be made to work, but it seems like you'd need to know exactly how to best use each class right away. If any one class gets an edge early on and does, say 5% more damage, they level up 5% faster...leading to more damage potential and even faster leveling until they surge so far ahead that the other classes can't catch up.

So, even though it's probably too late to matter, I better ask how I can optimize my non-melee characters' ability to gain experience. Does anything other than raw damage matter (for example, healing or pet damage)?

[subzero22]

I've noticed that to. But the fastest well not all the time but the best way to get max lvls to lvl is use weapons/spells that do the least damage possible. you don't want to kill them too fast. You get exp depending on the lvl of the monster and how many times you hit them.

My breakdown was:

4 Melee
2 Range
1 CM
1 NM

Also to get more lvls from some of your chars don't have a full party of 8. have like a party of 5 so the exp is shared more and 3 pack mules.

[DragonPaladin]

I've also noticed this. What I'd like to know is how you increase your attributes really quickly? Is it better to concentrate on one skill or all of them simultaneously, and Why?

I'm playing a one-person party. I'm at the last chapter in the game (Dungeon Siege 1). I've done it solo so far for the entire game. My XP has risen a bit, but not much. Also I concentrate on Melee/Strength. My other skills rise much more quickly, clearly because they're at a lower level of XP and don't require that much XP at lower levels. However, my strength seems to rise much more quickly than say intelligence or dexterity, why? - Does it have to do with my Melee being the highest, what determines it?