Evolution of Combat Beta – Live!

It's no longer possible to chin at ape toll for experience unless you keep a really low defence level- they're like level 104 or something. So if you're after 99 range any time in the future I'd suggest trying it before the new combat Plus chins are crashing with all the panic selling.

A quote from Mod Rathe on the forums:

The XP reduction kicks in based on comparing your offensive stat to the enemy Defence level, and in fact does not use your overall combat level. Here is an example:

I have 99 Attack, 99 Defence and 1 Magic.
I Mage an NPC with 50 Defence, and I have selected to Mage defensively, so gaining Magic and Defence XP.
Let's say this NPC awards 200 XP, therefore 50% (100 XP) is for Magic and 50% (100 XP) is for Defence.
My Defence skill is more than 30 levels above the NPC so this XP is reduced down to 10% (10 XP).
However, my Magic skill is less than 30 levels away from the NPC so I get 100% of my Magic XP (100 XP).
I am awarded 10 Defence XP and 100 Magic XP.
The reduction is only applied down, never up. So if I kill an NPC that is 50 levels higher than my offence and defence skill, I will be awarded 100% of the XP.
However, if my offence and defence skills are 30+ levels above the NPC I kill, I shall only be awarded 10% of the XP.

I'm not able to check any of this out myself, but my understanding of this is that your defence level doesn't ever factor in to the xp reduction; it's your range lvl vs the monster's defence.

But I'm really just splitting hairs here because it's pretty certain that those skeletons still have low enough defence to render the method ineffective. I think it's likely that that item was overlooked initially and that it will be addressed before the beta is over, but since they're taking a hit I'm going to go ahead and buy some to finish off 99 range. Thanks for the tip.