The first time I did the game I did every NPC quest and all the optional ones possible and hit the cap near the end. Didn't diminish the enjoyment though I just reasoned they were now "perfect" and concentrated on the plot and accumulating gear/gems.
The second time my own char hit it just near the end, but because I did my character swapping after Brynnlaw rather than before (as in the first game), the NPCs were well under their potential.
The third time I played an evil party and avoided unecessary chars/quests and finished a class or two below the limit.

I don't mind the exp cap. It gives the game some closure and stops boring omnipotence (no challenge). If you really love the char that much you can always "relive the glory" and play it again as the same char from scratch. It also encourages you to play it again differently.

I'm just curious of the size of the party, and when you hit the cap. I've had 6 players since very early on in the game (3 are my own) so I've been sharing experience all along the way. I came within 50,000 of the cap after finishing the major quest in Chapter 6(I assume it's the major quest, but I won't name it in case it's a spoiler).

I installed the XP cap remover at that point, and everyone has leveled up once since passing the cap and two have leveled up twice.

My party always contains 6 persons, and my main character usually hits the cap
in chapter 6, and I have done almost every quest in earlier chapters
without the quest from limited wish spell though, you can get pretty good
XP's from doing that quest.

I hit it in CH6 with 6 characters doing everything I could find.
I found it interesting that you could remove the CAP at any time after hitting it and everyone would level up accordingly. I played the game through without removing the CAP, then installed the CAP remover patch. I had noticed in SK that my character showed well over 3KK EPs. I then loaded my last save game (just to see what happens) and everyone leveled up!

Aerie hit it after the first battle in the underdark and very quickly all but Imoen reached it, again still in chapter 5. I have been very thorough and finished nearly all the side-quests. I have removed the EXP cap now because my character is a multi-class mage/thief and so I want to try some of the higher spells.

With six characters, I usually hit the cap during or just after chapter five. The time I played through with four characters (myself, Korgan, Viconia, Edwin) I hit the cap in chapter three. I've played BG2 through twice with my fully capped fighter/mage and found it's just as fun if you don't level up at all, although I did fight quite a lot of liches like this.

I am finding battles far too easy now with the EXP cap removed. The Twisted Rune gang were wiped out with only Aerie being hurt by Meteor swarm. Bohdi's last stand was a cinch, although 4 sunrays helped( 2 saved, 1 from helm of brilliance and 1 from Daystar). Have others found later battles to be too easy, or is it because I finished all the quests before chapter 3 or possibly the EXP cap removal. Any thoughts?

heh... when i finished the game i was wondering how come my level was 19 and i could cast level 9 spells, it turned out that my bro removed without me knowing it so i dont really know how high im suppose to be with the excap... ard chapter 4-5 i think for me

chapter2, used the Tanner bug

Suul-Yinn I think that it's a combination of the exp cap removed and the fact that if you do all the quests you get lots of great gear. Try doing Bodhi without Daystar, Improved Mace of Disruption or that Neclace that protects you from Lvl drain for a start. (Yuk.)