Quasqueton said:I am truly stunned at the confusion someone must have about this data to even conceive of this kind of question. (I mean no offense to anyone.)
Well, I was able to conceive of it while also understanding what you had actually been doing, so I don't think I'm particularly confused about the data.
I don't really think the question is so far beyond the pale, as the rate of XP gain is pretty significantly affected by substituting more powerful critters in to face the higher level 3E party. Your study of D1 demonstrates this - if all the Drow, Troglodytes, etc. had gone through the same powerup between editions as the giants, the 3E group might have gotten a lot more XP. OTOH, I can also see that trying to account for those changes would be a ridiculous amount of work, added to what is already a pretty significant task, and wouldn't necessarily improve the usefulness of the results at all.
To me, the most enlightening part of your experiment is the rate at which the 1E group is advancing. It's still a fascinating exercise, hope to see more.