Character level vs map level

In the mechanics thread they discuss what are the penalties if you are higher level (+2) than the map, my question is what happened when you are lower level than the map level? Do you have a bonus of some sort?

On the contrary, I believe penalties are based on the difference between your level and the zone level. Being 3 levels below is just as bad as being 3 levels above :p

Ok so to not have any penalties you need to be between -2 to +2 level compared to the map level.

Yeah.. but accept that it will never happen. You won't start running maps until 70+ and you'll be incredibly lucky to see a lvl 70 map before you hit 80.

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TadaceAce wrote:

Yeah.. but accept that it will never happen. You won't start running maps until 70+ and you'll be incredibly lucky to see a lvl 70 map before you hit 80.

The title is a bit misleading, I was really only talking about game areas not maps.

Actually there are two types of penalty. One decreases currency drops if you are more than two levels above the monster you kill. From the mechanics thread:

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There is a penalty to the chance of currency items (scrolls, orbs, etc.) dropping in areas with a monster level more than two levels lower than your character level. For each additional level that you have compared to the area's monster level+2, the chance of a currency item drop is reduced by 2.5%.
[...]
Currency item Drops are not increased or decreased in this way when fighting in areas above your level.
For the purposes of this penalty, your level is never considered to be higher than 68. Therefore a level 75 character receives no penalty in a level 66 area.

The other penalty decreases XP gained if the difference between monster- and character-level is too big. Again from that mechanics thread:

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There is a safe level range where no penalty is applied, which is equal to three, plus one for every sixteen complete player levels.

Also don't forget that magic monsters have one level higher than the monster level displayed, rare and unique monsters are even two levels higher.

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TadaceAce wrote:

Yeah.. but accept that it will never happen. You won't start running maps until 70+ and you'll be incredibly lucky to see a lvl 70 map before you hit 80.

I started doing 66 and 67 maps at 66 and it works fine aslong as you make sure there are no crazy penalties like temporal chains, extra dmg, etc etc
I have found 2 70 and 1 71 maps and played them with my level 72 witch so it is possible to get them. Couldn't finnish the level 71 one though. The Piety copy in the Tempel map did too much dmg.
So far however I have mostly found crap on the maps except for a exalted orb and some mediocre rares worth saving.

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TadaceAce wrote:

On the contrary, I believe penalties are based on the difference between your level and the zone level. Being 3 levels below is just as bad as being 3 levels above :p

Bro i think you are wrong. I was 63 in 66 maps gaining 5 bars per non maze run. I believe you guys are thinking about the currency penalty, which i believed they said doesn't apply to anything above 66.

penalties start to occur as of 4levels below map level (last i heard)
but remember map gives more exp then one same level as you so it should still give more exp ;p

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DuckYourHead321 wrote:

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TadaceAce wrote:

On the contrary, I believe penalties are based on the difference between your level and the zone level. Being 3 levels below is just as bad as being 3 levels above :p

Bro i think you are wrong. I was 63 in 66 maps gaining 5 bars per non maze run. I believe you guys are thinking about the currency penalty, which i believed they said doesn't apply to anything above 66.

At level 63 you have an "effective level difference" of 6, and at level 64 it goes to 7. Effective level difference is equal to 3 + level/16 rounded down. So you could have been level 6 and gotten no penalty in a level 66 map. The penalties would start to apply at levels 59 and below or 72 or above. Note that a 1 or 2 penalty above your level+/- effective level difference is actually quite small, only about 10%. You could easily get exp from a level 66 map with a character down to about 58 or 57 before it starts to decrease. It's worth mentioning that level 70 takes over twice as much exp as level 60, of course you will be gaining that many bars and will see slower bars running below your level.

This doesn't take into account party level difference penalties or party monster bonus penalties.