Yes, and more so: I found that their starting XP matches yours in steps of 250.000, up to 1.250.000: After that they seem to still get that amount (spilt for Multi-Classes, without anything subtracted for their first class in the case of Dual-Classes). Characters don't join you fully leveled up, though but rather at their base level for the game, so that you can distribute their Proficiencies and/or Thieving-Skills in the way you see fit.
Personally, I like this, but I can see how it shifts the games balance somewhat in favor of your party. There's always the possibility of skipping SoD and it's higher cap, but for me it's just part of the experience, by now!
This is something I've noticed very recently, too, when the early NPCs joined with 250,000 XP while my main character had close to 500,000 XP already. Then, while a bit above 500,000, they joined with 500,000, too. And similary at the 750,000 XP border, where Nalia got 750,000 when my PC had 793000 XP: http://steamcommunity.com/app/228280/discussions/0/364041517014699850/#c364042063113653237
I've never paid attention to these XP "borders" that influence whether and when they receive another 250,000 XP. I've always tried to get the companions as early as possible to develop their skills myself.
The current setup seems to be recent. The pre-EE setup favored average party levels instead of XP thresholds, and was one of the main reasons why single class characters (especially relatively fast levelers like druids and thieves) remained viable. For example, a thief PC could get an NPC with similar levels (and significantly higher XP) to spawn earlier than other PC classes like F/Ms and paladins, especially if you kick everyone else out first (higher average party level).
AFAIK, this remains unchanged for the original NPCs.
Yulaw9460
Member Posts: 634
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Personally, I like this, but I can see how it shifts the games balance somewhat in favor of your party. There's always the possibility of skipping SoD and it's higher cap, but for me it's just part of the experience, by now!
http://steamcommunity.com/app/228280/discussions/0/364041517014699850/#c364042063113653237
I've never paid attention to these XP "borders" that influence whether and when they receive another 250,000 XP. I've always tried to get the companions as early as possible to develop their skills myself.
AFAIK, this remains unchanged for the original NPCs.