Experience

Experience (often abbreviated exp or xp) is the numeric stat you need in order to level your character. It can be obtained by completing various tasks like killing mobs.

Cap

A cap is the maximum amount of experience you can get at once (under normal circumstances). As your total level increases, so to will your cap.

Overcap

It is possible to get more experience than your cap by defeating a particularly hard mob for your level. This is rarely happens more than a few times for the same mob. In particular, getting twice your normal cap as a reward is referred to as a doublecap.

Denting

Repeatedly killing the same mobs and running the same area will reduce the amount of experience you earn. This is not such a problem for low level characters but becomes more apparent the higher you level. One sign of this is, upon killing a mob, receiving the message

You don't learn much from this battle.

Rotation

In order to avoid the affects of denting, high level players will vary the locations and mobs they run. Low level players may need to rotate between 2-4 areas while higher level characters may need to rotate 15 or more to avoid getting dented experience.

Experience Stats

2013 Mar 24

On the 2013 March 24 dentin published some stats on board 8 showing the percentages of where experience was coming from. [1]

 (  0.28%)   achievements
 (  5.59%)   better
 (  7.74%)   cleric
 (  5.09%)   damage
 ( 40.29%)   death
 (  1.42%)   explorer
 (  2.29%)   fame
 (  3.07%)   leading
 (  8.77%)   mage
 (  6.32%)   necromancer 
 (  2.16%)   quest
 (  0.52%)   system
 (  6.33%)   thief
 (  0.29%)   userload
 (  9.77%)   warrior

2013 Sep 17

Taken from board 8 [2]

Current long term exp stats, broken out by group (not individual type)
   730411722 (  0.54%)   achievements
  8195736549 (  6.08%)   better
 10536072600 (  7.82%)   cleric
  7989937220 (  5.93%)   damage
 48439664484 ( 35.95%)   death
       81687 (  0.00%)   druid
  2836990217 (  2.11%)   explorer
      374428 (  0.00%)   failed
  3229355063 (  2.40%)   fame
  2468147429 (  1.83%)   leading
 14544158391 ( 10.79%)   mage
 10231137348 (  7.59%)   necromancer
   211706138 (  0.16%)   newbie
  4679002509 (  3.47%)   quest
    16805858 (  0.01%)   ranger
   852119322 (  0.63%)   system
  7663864478 (  5.69%)   thief
    83812443 (  0.06%)   userload
 12022789992 (  8.92%)   warrior
------------------------------------
134732167878             total

December 12, 2015

 29.43%   death
  7.39%   damage
  5.85%   quest
  4.20%   better
  1.84%   leading
  1.82%   explorer
  1.63%   fame
  1.47%   job
  0.58%   achievements
  0.13%   bottling
  6.25%   mage
  8.16%   cleric
  9.57%   thief
 10.88%   warrior
  5.88%   necromancer
  4.09%   druid
  0.69%   system
  0.13%   userload

Tips

• Rotate areas
• Join groups
• Use a variety spells/skills
• Explore
• Run dangerous aggro areas
• Perform your primary class's major function (e.g. Clerics can turn undead, heal, etc.)

References

Experience Runs on Archais