Agree with most written above. Changing it again but not for everyone is a big no go in my book.
The 2nd streak removal is enough but keep the current level xp system.
Add 100 more levels but increase the XP needed big time. 50k a level for all I care. Than use everyone banked XP so we get rid of that in one go. Yes some with 1M XP will move up 20 levels but who cares. At least there will be no one left with banked XP. When the first are reaching level 200 add 100 more and so on.
Your art department can come up with hundreds of more helmets, gloves, kits, socks, shoes etc as prices without much trouble.
This way it is the same for everone and we are not changing the route for a lot but not everyone.
Critical mass…… it is starting, sooner as I expected.
I’m getting more and more annoyed with UI as well. Before every ride, more clicks, more hiding in a menu, less transparency (new start screen, revamp training plans, extra button before leaving, streak screen, too much dodgy updates, every 2 weeks I have fear if I make it in time for my event, but still no filter in events) sometimes it feels like Zwift is going backwards….
The UI is practically user hostile - the most recent really one that is really irritating is when you go to click a ride-on to return it, the thumb moves, and the HUGE function key menu explodes at the bottom of the screen. Apparently impossible to have a zone for this.
Anyway, the Levels - I’m 49 (I think) but apparently should be 99 under the soon-to-demised new system, and probably something else under the new new level system.
If they want an incentive system, or a levelling system for gamefication purposes then maybe take the time to design one. For example the know certain biometric info about us - sex, age, weight, fitness, and also geographic location. They also know performance and usage - there is a wealth of info to have local, regional, national, continental, and global leagues (akin to Strava) as well as selecting a club league. Improving your standing is one way of providing incentives/
Another way is absolute work - how far you have gone, how high you have climbed, how many hours you’ve ground for (and variations etc). And you don’t need to get a piece fo digital bling every level - save them for the biggies. And bling can be icons, or name styles etc in the rider list if people want to peacock.
There is so much that can be done, and this is just scratching the surface. But the fact that next to nothing is being done, and done badly at that is just very disappointing.
Should never ever be a level cap in the first place. Just keep the levels ticking up, those big level riders will be content with that and maybe put some special unlocks every 25 levels or so if you don’t want to tie up artists to much making assets for the unlocks.
And you might be surprised, not only did a play lots of games but I was even in development of them. How about you?
Generally when I hit a limit (or a cap) I stopped using it and uninstalled the game and went to something else.
Nowadays that something else I sometimes jump to is Fulgaz or Rolla. Fulgaz has the rides i want (all HC climbs that I do IRL) and nicer road feel (it, how the gradients versus trainer resistance controlled).
Aren’t you forgetting the users who lost 500,000 or more XP after the first XP reset to 500,000 which should never ever have happened. Some folk were at 1.5m XP ie more until overnight they were put to 500k. Then had to level up with a supposed bank of XP saved in the background. It just made a stinking big mess we are in now.
I get that you want to catch up with the top users, but consider those folk were higher XP before any of this meddling happened by virtue of how many hours per day they ride - they are on Zwift at 4am and doing 3-4 hour rides every day.
If you want to catch them up, you need to ride 30-40 hours a week like they do.
Zwift made some non-optimal choices when they first designed the game, but that’s quite understandable. Then, sometime last year, the decision was made to speed-up the progression through levels. (I guess to retain more users, who - based on the data - drop out after first weeks/months.) The change came in December 2023 and boy, did they botch the upgrade…
Apart from the issue of riders currently at the top level (which I will skip over), there were two major problems. The first one was that the new tempo of accumulating points was too high - two streaks per week and levels too close to each other. That’s what’s being now fixed. The second problem was the treatment of riders in the 30-50 level range. This has caused quite some uproar in December, and upset quite a few people. The correct solution has been proposed several times in these forums and elsewhere:
Give the current riders a choice:
a) skip to the correct (i.e. according to the new rules) level based on the accrued points
b) progress through levels at double pace until you catch up with the new points/level curve
For some reason Zwift not only has not fixed the second issue, but somehow made it even worse. I cannot see any rational reason to do this and keep shooting themselves in foot. Why on Earth they do not implement a fix like the one suggested?
Ok? Getting where it is has been a well-over-a-year process and ended up balanced in the middle, some people liked the version just prior to where it ended up and in that version it was impossible to move up from the back of a surging pack. The one before that was super-churn.
Of course your specific complaint is not about pack dynamics but rather dynamic pace partner efforts, so you can complain about it in that thread, but of course that was a long process of tweaking and taking feedback to get somewhere that people were mostly happy with.
The seemingly unpopular answer is that the proposed changes actually make sense. Not too hard (original 60 level system), not too easy (current 1-100 system), or just right (proposed system).
The funny thing is that I care about xp and leveling up because I like the game part of Zwift. The 20 people I follow who I know IRL and are local don’t care at all. There won’t be a mass revolt if they change levels again.
All of Zwift is for enjoyment, whether a full-fledged athlete, gamer, or in=between.
And this is not enjoyable.
However, I would rather have fire socks than confetti socks.
Maybe trade level 50 and 100.
Also, if I have confetti socks will people be annoyed if I am doing a workout and not hitting the confetti button when I pass them? Will I need to regularly schedule confetti rides?
Yep, I’d agree that if the new system was the one bought in 4 months ago there wouldn’t be as many complaints. Higher level, but also a higher xp requirement. The current system has been in place long enough though that people can rightly feel cheated by the moving target.
Overall I feel that the maximum level should either stay where it is, whether that’s the current one or the new proposal, or simply be infinite. This practice of periodically increasing the maximum is quite frustrating to me and I think is poor game design. If there is a maximum level it should be eventually achievable for anyone, not reserved for those who have been around the longest and getting pushed further away from any new starter.
If you go to your profile page in Companion (Menu and then select your name or photo), you’ll see your current level and a progress bar for the next level.
Exactly what I am thinking. L87 with 1.5M XPs. I am fed up with this delayed leveling up scheme. For the first time in 4 years I am seriously considering suspending my account during summer. Vote with your wallet as Eric Min likes saying…
Less training no.My issue is Im a year round zwifter due to lumbar fusion. In less than a month most users will be outside and those of us still churning our miles on Zwift are stuck with changes pushed by Cat C and up riders who are the most vocal in the forums.
In terms of that poll, the third option could be used in either the first or second scenario since banked XP is a thing in both systems correct? So it’s not mutually exclusive to either option.
Is your third option “Implement new leveling, but also give people a choice of using their banked XP to move to their new level”?
Also you should probably have a “Don’t care” option so the folks who don’t care have the opportunity to voice their opinion as it seems they like to on these matters
Reading this thread I actually think these are some of the options that have been discussed:
Do nothing, keep everything as is.
Implement new leveling proposal with no changes.
Keep 1-100 levels, add new levels.
Keep 1-100 levels, add a prestige system.
Don’t care.
With each of the above they have a second set of options:
Start riders at current level, use a banked XP system for accelerated leveling.
Allow riders to choose to move to the new level they should be at in the new system based on their XP.
So really there are two separate yet intertwined decisions, one is the leveling changes, and the second is do we want to move away from the ‘banked XP’ concept in whatever system we end up with.
The 20% discount seems to have disappeared with v1.61.
I should have it to level 98, anyone else notice this ?
I had a level up model in excel, it suddenly stopped being accurate, spent most of March with sinus issues so wasn’t riding that much, came back and nothing added up !
