its works. so im just semi unlucky in my lk runs thus far i guess.
i made a lvl 1 barb in norm. went and hit a quill rat it died in one hit and gave me like 1 xp.
s/e and re selected my barb and went into game. typed /players8 got the message confirming it. instantly s/e. then i rejoined/s/e'd 5 times in a row without typing anything.
on the 6th join i went out and hit a quill rat. took 4 hits and gave me way more xp.