Eliminate or reduce XP bonuses on 50%, 75% climb portal

If the spirit of gravel is mountain biking, is the spirit of zwift paperboy?

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Rewarding climbing by giving a spinner for ADZ when you did the majority of the time in workout mode? Not that I mind any more- I just do my rides. Hence why I go hide on ADZ, pace dynamics modifications don’t affect me as much.

Anyhooow, I shall be at level 100 legitimately before any changes happen.

Looking at your ride history recently, how much portal riding have you done or long distance riding for that matter?

I don’t know, this seems like a wind up.

No, but you get more drops.

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Suppose a similar argument could then be made for giving less “credit” (be it drops or XP) to those who ride with the TD at less that 100% in general (although appreciate the nuances associated with the XP bonuses for climb portal) - and that is a can of worms that I’m not sure Zwift want to open…

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The OP must not ride much on climb portal recently since 13 December because the way bonuses are given out is definitely changed.

I have four laps of Willunga now and not a single 250XP yet. I’m not just cruising up the hill either.

I’ll go to 10 laps to be certain.

Finally lap 5 segment 2 got 250XP

Edit: 70.5km to get about 6000XP. Definitely not the days of people gaming the system with U-turns and the like. Did get a PR on one of the laps.

8 laps total - got tired at the end.

did la leguna negra last night at 100% and out of the 10 segments I had 1 x 250XP, 8 x 10XP and 1 feather, 1 in 10 for a feather seems low for a climbing portal

I’ve done Willunga a number of times now and seem to average 1 x 250xp, 7 x 10xp and 2 x feathers. The odd time I don’t get the 250xp but then a couple of rides later I get it twice in a climb so it seems to average out to once a climb.

This is about what I would average as well. I feel that ever since I got the “25 climb portal climbs” badge the 250XP seems to be coming a bit less. It’s still there, but seems to be every second climb-ish for me now.

I’m not sure if it’s just bad luck, or if it’s changed. I might start keeping some records to see what it looks like with more data, but I have gone 4 full climbs without a 250XP, when before I hit 25 climbs I would at least get one every two climbs.

There’s a fundamental difference between TD and portal %. Portal % reduces the amount of work needed to do the climb: you use the same number of pedal strokes, and the pedal strokes are easier. TD increases the number of pedal strokes while making the pedal strokes easier, so you end up with the same total work. In one case: less work. The other: same work.

Reducing TD is very similar to riding an easier gear. It doesn’t get you up the climb with less work – it just makes it easier to maintain a higher cadence while doing the work.

That said, I personally like the challenge of riding with 100% TD, in particular on the Radio Tower climb, where the 17% sections are painful coming at the end of the Epic KOM. But that’s a whole separate topic.

XP are rewarded for distance and for crossing banners. There tend to be banners at the top of climbs. So you get XP for doing the climbs. There’s also banners at sprint points not at the top of climbs. But I was referring to the banners at the top of climbs.

Drops are awarded for doing work, which I agree is more closely correlated with climbing, since it’s more work to ride a given distance if there’s more climbing.

technically you get a power up at the banner, which could be an XP powerup, but no guarantees.

I fully understand how TD works, however, I had not appreciated that on climb portal it was scaling the climb so thank you for clarifying.

Regarding your sentiments on 100% TD, couldn’t agree more! 100% or bust!

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With my amount of climb portal laps (I must be over 50 at least - did 25 a long time ago) I can say for sure something has changed and it changed about 1 week ago.

I don’t think Zwift will say anything about it, if they do then the climb portals will become empty. :wink:

If someone sets up a bot and runs it offline for 2 weeks twice daily with 10 laps each time that will surely establish what is going on.

More like just using the product at all. This is an everyone-gets-a-medal product. That’s the spirit.

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I just did two more climb portals and got 9 x 10xp, 1 x 250xp and then 8 x 10xp, 1 x feather, 1 x 250xp so pretty standard for what I’ve been getting. I did just get the 25 Climbs badge though so maybe that’s going to change now.

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Related - again the ADZ spinner when I did Four Horsemen route yesterday (90km / 2111m+) didn’t give me the wheels. Thats about 4 times now there not given the wheels (1000XP). I had a helmet instead.

At least the route was enough to go all the way through to level 95.

if it makes you feel any better i never get the wheels!

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I got the wheels the one time it mattered–the first time I got them :smiley:

Which happened to be my second time up, but whatever.

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