Is this where one should yet again suggest putting the pace partners on TT bikes for more predictable pacing instead of jumping through whatever wormholes the current pack dynamics create in the blob in front of them.
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Wouldn’t this just introduce a tradeoff? Then you have everyone except the RP battling and compensating for the effects of PD, but trying to stay with 1 rider (the RP) who isn’t subject to PD.
I don’t understand what everyone is talking about with “battling” the current pack dynamics. Just stay in the draft. If you don’t fight for position in the group it’s fine. I’m not sure it should take negligible effort to go back to front in the group.
There’s always the issue of a rider in front of you dropping the wheel, but that’s always been an issue. PD5 makes it slightly more effort to get past them onto the wheel they dropped.
Test it and find out 
weren’t some of the bots on the new halo TT bike for a few weeks recently… I seem to remember a few comments about how much better it was.
I don’t know, I don’t have the issues that everyone claims are wrong with riding with pacer bots, just stay with the bot… as with any group ride, your power will fluctuate, if that is a deal breaker for you then go do an ERG workout 
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ERG mode workouts suck, that’s why I don’t do them. I almost entirely stopped using the pacers as well since they’re not set up according to my preferences, just occasional use as a warmup. But I don’t make any claims that my preferences are applicable to everyone else.
It would be interesting to offer tests where every pacer at every power level were offered “normal” vs on TT bike, and separately “normal” vs static, using the same routes, and solicit feedback about it, encourage people to try both.
Maybe if you are riding with a pacer that is at almost your maximum output, could I see a problem keeping up on the hills.
I usually ride with a pacer, when cooling down (easy ride) and don’t really notice any difference in the hills. I almost always find(if I’m not paying attention) that I have to slow down after a hill, and let them catch up.
Except when I was riding on Tempus, the pacer would grab onto a wheel sometimes, and take off, but that is a different problem. Others had suggested puting them on a tt. which would be an easy fix for that problem.
Not sure what about Erg workouts you don’t like if you’re looking to maintain a constant effort, but I did discover that if you create a workout in Garmin Connect, you can specify a range of wattage that you want the trainer to keep you in. It’s a bit more natural to set eg. a 10-15 watt band that you work within without the trainer always micro-adjusting the effort. And if you like to be around a lot of people, pick a busy route, or enter a banded group ride while running the erg workout.
You’re describing stuff that isn’t fun. I can’t take something that isn’t fun and magically turn it into a fun time. It’s not possible to talk people out of enjoying what they enjoy, and I don’t presume to talk anyone out of enjoying dynamic pacing. It’s completely fine with me that they like it.
Can you articulate what you feel would make a constant powered RP fun, but an Erg ride or banded ride would not be? I’m not trying to talk you into anything, just curious.
ERG mode rides and banded ride remove any need to look at the game. They are like riding a trainer in the dark ages before Zwift. Constant powered pacers just aren’t like that. The rider still has some agency, some decisions to make, even if adjusting power is less important. That’s playing a game, doing something engaging. ERG mode or banded rides are just 100% mindless grinding in a way that a pacer at fixed power is not. The terrain and pack movements still matter.
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The thing about the robo pacers is it is a group ride experience. There is a social aspect, even if you yourself are not chatting with the group. You can have an ERG workout that is static or dynamic, but a dynamic pacer ride will feel less lonely than a dynamic ERG mode workout, in a similar way, a long Zone 2 ride will feel less lonely with a pacer that does not have big swings in power compared to a long ERG mode workout.
If you are looking for an always available social ride with a reasonably constant power then a pacer is not a bad option, some people want the dynamic pacing, some would rather less power swings. Both scenarios make sense and are not solved by doing EGR mode.
If the pace bot is entirely static pace … why not just do an erg workout ?
I promise I will spare everyone explaining my reasoning again 
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Because it isn’t the same as an ERG workout. It’s drafting practice, and if you need to do more power you have to either pedal faster or shift gears, rather than the trainer adjusting resistance.
Riding with the PP and trying to minimize power is one of the best ways to learn to ride efficiently in Zwift for racing.
Wouldn’t it make for better draft practice if the pace were variable?
I suppose I simply don’t understand why people are so unhappy with a slight variation in pace, especially given that there are other options available on other routes anyway.
Is the real user story here that “Zwifter wants to go as fast/far as possible at a stable power input, and not have to worry about the pace changing or being dropped” especially coupled with the draft dynamic feedback.
Because it is not a “Slight” variation. It is drastic if you are heavier than the bot.
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That does not describe me at all. I pay no attention to distance because it’s totally fake in Zwift. It’s OK to not understand another person’s preferences. It is what it is. I don’t think my preference is really rare but I would not hold it up as some kind of gold standard for everyone to aspire to.
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Because with a lot occasions the variation isn’t slight - when it goes from 41km/h to 48km/h on a flat section of Tempus and then stays at that speed. Slight would be a few km/h, not 7.
Other day I had over 43km/h average speed on Tick Tock course for 90 minutes. Some times it is over 44 if some usual people are doing their usual tricks at the front.
In a real world group ride on the other hand, the leader will establish a maximum pace that they won’t exceed, if people go faster that’s their issue and they get away but everyone knows what the maximum speed is, they are trying to keep the bunch together.
But since the original “problem” was that everyone accelerated on hills ahead of the robopacers, it seems like we need another change to make the uphill pace increase even higher because people still go ahead of them and leave the robopacer behind….
If it’s flat then it doesn’t sound like a dynamic pacing problem, because the pace is constant on flat roads. That sounds like a pack dynamics problem to me, so possibly the TT bike solution would fit that scenario, or somehow improve pack dynamics but that’s above my pay grade.