Most of my followers are now level 100. I've currently got a mix of green, blue (rare), and purple (epic) followers. My question is: do they still benefit from Base XP or Bonus XP?
I've tried answering my question, firstly by using the in-game hints and common sense. Here's a typical scenario for my followers:
There's no real indication that Ilona would or would not gain the XP, but then again: what would she need it for? Your own character obviously won't get any XP from quests anymore, turning quest XP in gold if I'm not mistaken. However, there is even a "(+32)" in green mentioned, which is not mentioned for -say- Hulda Shadowblade (a rare/blue follower).
I've tried the ingame help as well, but it's plain awful ("garrison xp" yields zero results). I've skimmed and searched through Wowhead's Garrison Guide but I can't quite seem to find my answer.
So, to summmarize:
- how does XP work for level 100 followers?
- how can you find out (is there any in-game clue to this)?
- does the rareness (green/blue/purple) of folllowers matter?
- does the level of the quest matter?
2 Answers
Once a follower reaches level 100, any experience they gain from there goes into increasing their quality (green → blue → purple).
In-game, you can still see the XP bar on non-epic (green/blue) level 100 followers. See for example Songla and Hulda in your screenshot, which would have a bar like this:
Epic (purple) followers do not have such a bar anymore: they do not benefit from base or bonus XP at all. For example, your epic character "Ilona" will look like this:
The green "+32 XP" in your screenshot is extra XP a character would get for being overqualified for a quest, but again: since your follower is already epic this XP will go to waste.
Higher quality followers have additional traits and abilities (which let them counter more stuff).
5I send my 100 level characters on XP missions just to clear out my available mission queue; rather than letting them all expire which seems to take longer. I first do any armor upgrade missions, then resources (with Ben Gibb), then gold, then all the XP missions that are short duration (so I have followers available when the other missions are ready). Chance of success is irrelevant so I just send anyone. Not sure this is smart but keeps me busy.