Quote Originally Posted by Jojoya View Post
XP isn't dependent on gear but your chance for the "bonus" seems to be. Probably going to take a bit more time for players to gather data to confirm.
EXP gained from explorations increases with total EXP for level, it's just that in the early 60's it's so small increments I didn't notice any increase. After I hit 65 I started noticing it and understood I just hadn't noticed the small increments.

As to the return from QE's. This seems to have been adjusted at least twice after 5.45, so it's hard to say. Neither am I sure how good armor you need to get to the highest tier. I dress them up in Neo-Ishgardian HQ, to be on the safe side, but I'm not sure that's enough anymore.