leveling penalty?

I was talking to some one they told me that if you are more than 7 lvls about the map.

youll not only not get xp. but no loot drops or orbs either.

that makes no sense isn't this game about grinding the same map over to get the good stuff?

naybe this is why I never get any good drops.

thanks

That person is vaguely correct but wrong about a lot of stuff.

There is such a penalty to experience and currency drops (NOT to non-currency drops). It kicks in when the difference between your level and the level of the zone you're in is greater than 3 + (your level/16, rounded down). However, it doesn't mean you instantly get no currency or exp. You are penalised by a percentage depending on how big the level difference is (see here for the details). If you're only one or two levels outside that range, it's not a big deal. If you're fifteen levels over content, you aren't going to get much experience.

Note also that the currency drop penalty never treats your level as higher than 68. Thus, you will never receive a drop penalty of any sort in the endgame. The intent is to stop people from farming very low-level zones for super-easy currency drops.

Loot penalty only occures for currencies, any other loot doesn't get penalty. You can get a penalty if your character is too high for the zone (the rule is different from the xp penalty, its possible to have no xp penalty but a small currency penalty). But there is a cap, your character will never be considered to be higher than level 68, so you can farm the end of merciless and any map without any penalty (see for details : http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Drop_Rate)

You'll still get xp penalty if you are too far above or below the level of the zone. Your safe zone (level range without xp penalty) is equal to to 3, plus 1 for every sixteen level you have. So at level 70 you have 3 + 4, so 7 level of safe range. Meaning you can do any zone of -7 to +7 level from your current level without penalty (http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Experience#Penalties)

ok thanks for that