I usually have four to six players in my game. I ran the Hellknight Hill as is
with two character deaths and we are roughly more than halfway through Cult of Cinders with a nearly TPK due to running around a very large area, so more their own fault than anything. I finally feel the need to start balancing the encounters when everybody shows up, especially for the next mod. Looking at the XP budget I'm wondering if this could be a bit too much.
Some encounters I could nearly double the amount of mobs present, or just make what is already there, Elite. I'm debating on which way to go. More mobs means a lot more attacks coming their way with huge Hit Point pools. Elite mobs mean harder to hit and way more chances on top of the already high chance of the players being critically hit.
I know some areas it just makes sense to just make the mobs Elite as there just isn't enough room for seven or more mobs, but on a usual basis I'm curious which path I should typically try and stick with.
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Generally speaking, more monsters are better than more difficult monsters.
Now that my party is level 12 I try my best to not elite monsters that aren't solos, if that makes sense. Just add an extra minion to most encounters and that's good enough to cover the 30 to 40xp.
Remember, if an encounter is 3 mobs worth 35xp, and you need it to be 120 xp, just leave it. Lowball is better because the game will keep going and highball can make combat drag on and leave a bad taste in their mouths for game balance.