yep I'm exporting at a much higher resolution but fewer levels. I'm not at all sure I understand what this means. It looked to ME at first glance that the higher the levels, the more little grid components one has to stitch together. Which is a pain. But if I'm understanding this right, will that allow me a better image quality?

Your screen shot method = wow, laborious. Finding the matching edges of each segment would be unpleasant.