Fulgaz is one I also have, it features real routes I have actually ridden in the real world. Most of them enormous climbs we know are extremely unpopular in Zwift (most people aren’t the climbing types, so they want routes that suit them).
An overhaul to look real - yes, that would be interesting but I wouldn’t prioritise that over more big climbs added to Watopia.
I rode in Scotland a bit at first then haven’t come back to it. Of all the UCI worlds the only one I really use frequently is Innsbruck because it has some serious climbs. It could easily be expanded into a bigger Dolomites/Tirol world.
I sense that it will come soon (zoon? November was the month for Neokyo and Urukazi). I’ve been noticing that the scenery in Makuri has been changing over the past few months. In Yumezi where that long road stretches out to Fuji, there are fences and other changes in the trees. Throughout Neokyo and Urukazi are this same mural of an erupting Fuji. Don’t forget the giant Fuji mountain we have always seen.
I don’t think Zwift will abandon it. The fact that there are three different points (windy long road in Yumezi, highway w/ cars being constructed in the connector canyon, and another bridge in Urukazi) that look like branches over to it makes me hopeful that there might even be multiple ascent directions.
I have no idea if it’s coming soon, but route development seems to be geared toward popularity which means no major climbs. Most Zwifters prefer completely flat routes where the terrain flies by at top speed.
We’ll see when the portals are live, but they sound like the exception that proves the rule: adding climbs without investing in the routes or really integrating them in the game.
It’d be awesome if one portal had a mountain climb when the other had a shorter one. Sort of like what you were trying to do with Pace Partners, for each pace have a hilly(er) and a flat option. That way we could always have a mountain in addition to the Alpe, Epic, and Ventoux.
The frustrating thing about these new portals is that one of them is in the France world, which is not available every day (except through a world hack, or starting/quitting a workout). Why they didn’t use the ‘under construction’ area on the way to the jungle as one of the portals is bewildering to me.
Watopia alone would of been fine. Not sure why volcano but good as place as anywhere.
I suspect France was maybe chosen as well so they can tie it in with timings and climbs to the Tour de France with the Col du Tourmalet being one of the first climbs and mission coming July if I were to guess we might seem them here.
Jungle would of been a bit of an odd one. Beach pens would take a long time to get there. you could use the jungle/windmill pens but a rolldown hill straight into a climb does not give much of a warm up.
Agreed on the TdF tie-in, but I still think it’s odd to add this feature to a world that isn’t in the world rotation daily. (Of course, perhaps they will change that soon, also.)
As for the comment on the pens, I hadn’t even considered that the portals might be use in an event.
my bad was more just thinking spawn points for routes (beach, desert, jungle etc). I’m sure they have said that the portal is not available as part of an event.
Haven’t ridden it since W took over. I loved making route that I’ve ridden around the world but it got so lonely with their dumb bots that I came back to Zwift/DIRT for the social aspect of the riding.
I’ll get torched for this but Zwift’s biggest miss was not having some kind of recurring gameplay hook. When you’re pushing a GaaS model there needs to be something to keep people interested and logging in, because the core experience of riding a bike isn’t going to change. I would have loved to have seen some kind of “Rider Skill” element, where you would be incentivized to do different types of roads or bikes. In turn, you improve ever so slightly in that specific area (ie, you see that the calendar for WTRL includes a Makuri race with 2x Temple Climb, better grind that dirt skill). Would also be a neat way to compare improvement using holoreplay. Too late to build that in now as people would inevitably freak out about the impact on segments/PRs.
I switched to Inievelo. It’s in beta and has much better riding physics. Just waiting on the graphics to catch up. Love it and it’s more realistic. That was the platform I was talking about earlier this year. The graphics sucks but the programming is top notch.
I’ve been on Zwift since…must be 2016 and rarely get bored with it.
Its just too convenient when you cant go outside for whatever reason - literally couldnt live without it.
Its not to say it doesnt have a lot of minor gripes.
…I mean, the stop at level 60…why…just why.
How hard can it be just to let the XP roll upwards forever…its just a number.
Forget the unlocks fine but just let the level go up…this would absolutely be a quick and simple incentive to kepp you riding.
Bizarre
We’re looking at levels currently. Adding new levels is relatively trivial but we anted to be able to offer unlocks at each level which does take a reasonable amount of time.
