Do you also think those new socks will also be neutralised ? There are a few riding to those also not on a really honest way.
I think theyāll bother because A) theyāll be riding anyway and B) if they donāt spend the drops on the upgrades then theyāre sitting around with millions of drops complaining that they donāt have anything to spend them on, like we all were a month ago 
No one was ever racing on the California or Italy challenge bikes, but people still selected those and knocked them out.
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Iād ride a bunch and spend drops to be able to wheelie or post-up. Little purchased animations could be a thing, given the new pocket squirrel animation.
Iāve been enjoying upgrading the BMX, but even at itās best itās a workout (which is what I use Zwift for anyway). I figure now that itās Stage 4, Iāll work on upgrading the MTB next, doing Alpe repeats and switching to the BMX for the downhill. I may go with the Cruiser or Buffalo after that, not sure.
Iād love more bling, since there is less āyou cheatedā if someone shows up with different colored wheels as compared to a tricked-out Halo bike at this time
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Nice view on all this :
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Iām in agreement that of course thereās going to be differentials in ability. As to equipment however, there are a couple points.
In the professional ranks, everyone pretty much rides the best bike possible thatās available from their sponsors. Youād be hard-pressed to quantify any measurable performance difference between the top teams.
In the amateur/club ranks, the equipment reflects the size of the checkbook. Thereās no natural progression in real-life cycling that by riding more miles, youāre granted better equipment.
yes, @Lee_Zavarise_MIVA got it right
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As you would be aware a lot of people do bother a lot about the upgrades, you have obviously been on Alpe du Zwift and seen what folks were doing.
They put a lot of effort into those loopholes. For some of them they totally abandoned normal riding to spend hours at a time on ADZ or Ventop doing this. This was pretty well many of the major clubs/teams with their own custom kit so highly visible and coordinating their teleport activities via the companion app chat where others can see it and take screenshots of it all.
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But thatās my point, the size of the check book matters and the race organizers donāt go to the dentist and tell him he canāt ride his SL8 just because I can only afford a Schwinn. I canāt spend my actual money in Zwift but I can use the fake currency and my time and effort to unlock/buy better equipment. And now Zwift, in an effort to gamify the game more has given us another path to better gear. But then Zwift and the race organizers say I canāt use that gear, that I obtained fair and square, in their races. Sure, I can choose to just not do their races, but I like to race on Zwift and Iām a paying customer. It seems stupid to me to release arguably the most exciting update in a long time and then nerf it in arguably the most exciting arena: racing. While funny, it was absurd to me that people were racing Zwift Games on the atomic cruiser and BMX. I would be embarrassed if I was Zwift. Good luck getting the World Championships back when people see that. You can say Iām taking it too seriously, but thatās my prerogative as a paying customer.
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Letās have a fight, you can have boxing gloves, Iāve bought a nuclear missile. 
isnāt that already a thingā¦ never bring a knife to a gun fight?
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I have indeed. Been up there twice last week to upgrade the Aethos.
Still dont care what other people are doing when it is not against the rules and they are just using a game mechanic. That some people dont like it I understand, but what everyone likes or not doesnt make it against the rules. I dont like getting a burrito in my face, but I am not screaming that everyone who does needs to get banned for it. Would I like it removed, sure I do, but that is up to Zwift and as long as they dont ā¦ it is fair game for everyone.
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So youāre telling me you wouldnāt ride your Tron, assuming you have one, just because somebody else didnāt earn it yet? Okay. Good on you.
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I was one of the folks riding ZG on a BMX, since that was announced as a neutralized series well before the latest gamification was announced. I started it as a lark, figuring it would be fun, but once they announced the upgrade path for the Tron, I decided to use that bike as one of my upgrade bikes.
As for Zwift being embarrassed, remember this is the folks who have had us racing bigwheels, bobbleheads and dino costumes, they understand that some folks are here just to train, but want to have fun doing it.
They should be more embarrassed by the methods the teams went through to make sure it wasnāt fun for everyone, in the name of winning.
Zwift implemented a feature that is clearly (based on all the language they used when announcing it) not being used as intended. Thatās on themāthey should have foreseen the unintended usage and made sure it couldnāt happen.
Given that they didnāt do that, a number of users are therefore using the feature in a way that is unintended. Which, coincidentally, opens those users up to accusations of TOS violations, given that it is clear how Zwift intended the feature to be used.
Whether or not it should be called ācheatingā or āgamingā or whatever, itās an unintended use of the system.
That race organizers are responding to the unintended use of the system seems reasonable to me. Itās not the ROās fault that the system was designed poorly, or that some are using it in unintended and unplanned-for ways. Had Zwift still dropped the ball but people had collectively decided to not exploit the system for their own gain, ROs wouldnāt have as much reason to neutralize equipment.
This doesnāt seem like an āeither-orā situation to me, where either Zwift or the Descenders need to be blamed but not both. I think both.
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I want races where people finish in high positions due to their power output, not because they had a virtual equipment advantage. 
Iāll take you up on that as long as weāre in the same room.
Good luck trying to hit me with it You might find it a bit heavy.
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not races where people finish high because of their skill?
I did a spin ride a couple weeks ago. Sunday evening, I just wanted to spin my legs out. 3 BMX bikes were in the little group I was riding with. Do you want to talk about motivation. Those guys made me work. Thought I was going to die. It took everything I had to stay with them 
. Good times.
They give me way more motivation, because they were on BMX. If they were on the Sl8, Iām thinking that I wouldnāt have even noticed them.
Indeed, surely itās like real life some bikes and upgrades are better than others and make a difference they should not use bikes that are all the same, but they do need to stop and reverse the upgrade cheating.