You could say the same for the gold upgrades.  Having a pile of cash isn't going to do anything by itself.  What really matters is the skill of the player in using the gold.  The more skillful a player, the more he will benefit from having the gold upgrades, and for that matter, from having the extra gold that he will save from not buying xp upgrades.  If someone is inefficient in his item purchases (e.g., TB not buying hp equipment but instead saving early for hungarling's crown- which I've seen happen), the gold upgrade really isn't doing much for him.

With respect to xp1, the question is whether a skilled player will benefit more from the extra 1800 gold early to mid-game or from reaching each level slightly faster than his opponents (but not by virtue of that upgrade being more than 1 level up on his opponent at any given time).

That's fine.  It comes back to how you play, I guess.  The way I play on teams with comparable skill I see the benefit almost immediately.  I guess that's just me.  We can go with the happy rainbow "everybody's different and special in their own way" thesis if it makes people happy

And Currency II and III are never worth it, btw...

As far as I understand the con argument it's something like - one member of your team will be underequipped relative to the opposition until he can make up the deficit, right? 

I don't buy it.  There are multiple builds and DGs who can play well into midgame with 2k gold worth of gear if they are careful or even if they aren't..  You adapt your playstyle to circumstance.  It's like saying a team of Assassins will be underequipped if they buy priests..OK sure, they might be missing a Vlemish short-term but they will have long term healing/pushing benefits that can't be ignored..

It amazes me that people see the numbers and still think xp upgrades are a good idea.

Has anyone here ever won a game while behind one level?  Two levels?  My record is about 4 levels behind, and I'm sure other people have accomplished similar 'feats'.

To those saying all other things equal, you are creating a fictitious scenario.  These upgrades cost gold.  Further, randomness will still play a larger factor than level if the level gap is only 1-2.

Further, the xp upgrades are win more upgrades.  They only really improve your chances if you are already controlling the lanes.

If xp upgrades are so great, why is brilliant bauble passed on?  Is the choice between 1800 gold of xp or unbreakable boots really that different?

I should mention that while I pointed out possible benifits to te XP upgrade, I have never gotten it myself, as i dont see it as that valuable.  As pointed out earlier, it is a % upgrade based on your personal experiance rate, so its kinda random based on how you farm.

I can say this It may be more useful in a 4v4+, Kinda how currency 2 is only usefull in 4v4. 

But I would also suppose XP upgrade could be good on Levi, or Zig, where one can double farm by lettign your oponate control a side portal.

I think I would rather see the XP upgrade be a constant static boost, like 10xp/s or whatever seems reasonable. 

Lol, that proves nothing...

You're saying that if you play a bad team, regardless of what level they are, if you avoid them and take portals you will win...

DUH!

Now, if this team wasn't completely moronic, they would have tele'd to there portals to protect, and with there money, creeps, levels, and women (Oh wait, scratch that), they would have most likely easily killed you, for more money creeps, levels, and women (Dejavu)

DaBRUM

I buy them up to XP 2 every single game, and they seem to work well. That's why I buy them. If I thought it would make me lose, I would buy them.

Having your entire team a level or two ahead is a huge advantage. Getting to level 10 first as Rook, Oak, or UB is *huge*. Yes, I have won because my entire was a level ahead. It usually happens because we have badass skills at level 10, and they are still stuck at levels 8-9. Have you ever played a game where the other team bought priests ASAP, and your team bought XP 2? You'll start earning 46% more XP. That's an INSANE amount of XP. Since you can't buy priests or XP upgrades at level 1, you'd probably end up somwhere between Zech's 30% and 40% column.

Not really. These upgrades are bought early on when map control is less of a factor, and farming behind towers is viable.

The reason brilliant bauble isn't used because it only gives XP to YOURSELF. If it boosted your entire *team's* XP by 10%, then having all 3 people buy it would increase your team's XP by 30% from level 1. That would be insane! I would definitely do that if that is how it worked. As of right now, it's not really worth it.

Wait, isn't this akin to the old "XP flag only gives 20%" argument? The relative differences between the two teams are relevant.

If the XP upgrades are bad, they don't seem  to hurt my team's winning chances very much. I've seen it help my team win, and I don't think it has contributed to my team's losses. I'll probably keep buying them.

Contrary to what you see on Mythbusters, one anecdote does not disprove anything. Rather, watch the many, many replays of top level players. See that they all bought XP.

actually it's a scientific rule that if you manage to find one situation where a statement doesn't apply the statement is therefor false

I think there's a flaw in the table that Epiph started to point out:

All things being equal, in a 3v3 match, the two allied players of the one who bought XP will get their level 4 skills a little bit sooner than the other team.  They will get skills first that improve DRAMATICALLY with an extra point like Tower II, Bite II, Rain Of Ice II etc...  For short periods of the game they will have a huge advantage in controlling flags and lanes before the enemy catches up.  In theory, this equals getting more experience than the enemy...  In theory, this means getting a bigger head start when it comes to being able to use your level 7 skills which means... well, you get the picture... in theory.  If I'm right (and I may not be (but I'm pretty sure I am)) these players won't just have a 10% XP advantage later on.

What about the guy who bought the experience upgrade?  Well, he's behind 1200 gold and that really sucks for some Demigod builds... but not so much for others.  Of course, there is also my TB build that I play that I feel I'm almost better off with the 10% XP bonus over equipment.  Anyway, assuming the player isn't using my BloftS Tank Hybrid TB,  he'll just have to play it safe until the leveling advantage his team has becomes more significant and starts lasting longer later in the game.

The more players on your team the better the upgrade is not the I was trying to make.

Your table states this:  Player A without the XP upgrade will be at 6400 XP when Player B with the upgrade will be at 7040 which isn't a difference in levels so it doesn't have any affect on the game.

What I'm saying is there will be points in the game where Player B will be level 7 while Player A is level 6.  That means that if they fight over the XP flag in Cat during one of these periods, Player B will take control of the flag giving himself and his teamates an even bigger leveling advantage.  If they fight over the HP flag during a time when Player B is hitting Player A with Pent III and Player A only has Pent II... and slightly less armor, health, mana, attack damage/speed... well, lane and flag control go to Player B and Player A wastes time going back to his base.

Taking this into consideration, if you really believe that Player A will have 6400 XP when Player B has 7040 from getting XP I, then we have a big difference of opinion on how much a players level affects how much XP he earns during the course of a game.