Streak and XP Leveling Adjustments [April 2024]

Look, if it stops people getting to level 100 then the objective has been met

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I noticed that as well. Just came here to see if that was planned.

Hey y’all, I have an update to share. As many have surmised by the fact we’ve not shipped this yet - we indeed did change the plans. The proposed curve we were testing over the last month was a bit too big of a change. The comments from many in this thread backed that feeling up and that feedback helped make the decision a no brainer - we went back and reworked it.

As of now we’ve ended up somewhere in the middle…a little slower leveling than what Zwift has today, but not really drastically so. We’re now riding with it at Zwift HQ and will continue to use it for a bit to see how it feels. It’ll roll out at some date in the near future when we think it feels ok.

As to the frustration that we’re changing it at all - I feel that. We totally botched it in December and the results we saw didn’t match the projections that had been calculated. People were leveling up way too fast, meaning we couldn’t really reward people with XP (ie, two streak bonuses each week, double XP events, big rewards for completing some challenge, etc) because just like drops people would be drowning in XP anyway so it’d possibly become worthless to too many Zwifters.

We unfortunately aren’t able to solve the fact that a certain XP quantity won’t map directly to a certain level - some people will have essentially had to earn less XP to upgrade from level X to level X+1…levels were on sale for a while (and I suppose still are). It’s a downside of changing the curve in our system on a live game, and it was already that way after December when new users were flying through levels older Zwifters had to grind more for. I can say we will try and not change this curve drastically after this, and in the future will look to add additional levels or a prestige system of some sort at level 100.

Anyway, thats the update I have. Thanks for the feedback - can always count on some of you all to really share what you’re thinking :slight_smile:

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You could solve that, I think. Reset everyone to level 1 and then replay the XP they’ve earnt against the new curve. That way everyone ends up on the level equivalent to the XP they’ve earnt over time.

Some people might end up on a lower level (I haven’t don’t the maths to work out if that could happen), but they would retain anything they previously unlocked that was level-specific.

Please also reconsider the requirement for us to re-earn XP we’ve already gained, particularly with the incredibly stingy 20% “discount”. The 8x accelerator was far more player-friendly and respectful of time people have already put in.

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I’m not sure a reset would work given there would be complaints if you down level riders. Might be fairest but it will annoy people.

I would be in favour of a faster accelerator though for those that have banked XP.

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It might but that wasn’t the point. The point was that it would “solve the fact that a certain XP quantity won’t map directly to a certain level”.

People are going to be annoyed either way. The choice is about which people you annoy.

Of course, I have a personal interest as I have something like 430,000XP but am level 54 (which requires 185,000XP) while having the XP for level 85 or so.

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the TLDR

We heard you were unhappy and have scrapped it :+1:

We have a new version which we won’t tell you how it works or when it will go live, that way no one can complain. :rofl:

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@j4m1eb I think you’ve made a really good condensed version there :grin:

There’s also the option of giving everyone the level based on their current XP but without making anyone drop any levels (long-term goal of having the level change points in the same place for everybody), and doing a decelerated levelling up for those few who ended up with an excessively high level in the fairly short time the new XP/level system was live…

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or keep levels as they currently are and add new levels on top of those and put everyone where they should be based on their XP or give them the option to work through them
no one needs to move backwards.
if they really need some “prize” then just use the level 100 jersey and change the number as you go through the extra levels

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For those with less time, chat gpt has summarised the update…please see below.

Hey everyone, we botched the leveling curve change, so we reworked it to be slightly slower. Thanks for your brutally honest feedback – as always, it was “helpful.”

I still can’t fathom why Zwift changed the level system in the first place?

I started Zwifting in 2019, and it took 500,000XP to get to Level 50.
It was 110,000XP to Level 25. Then after Level 30 it was alternately 10,000XP or 20,000XP for each level. Then after Level 42 it was 20,000XP for each level, up to Level 50.
And then those 20,000XP increments continued when Level 60 was introduced, BUT after Level 55, it took 30,000XP for each level to Level 60.

It was a real grind getting through some of those levels. But really satisfying when levelling up and being able to buy good stuff in the Drop Shop. A great sense of achievement.
Level 33 (200,000XP), unlocked Specialized Venge S-Works frame in the Drop Shop. And then I remember eyeing Level 45 (400,000XP), for that sweet ZIPP 858/Super9 wheels Drop Shop unlock. And riding all the routes for the bonus XP’s. Making PRL Full and Uber Pretzel essential for their huge bonus XP. But only making a small dent in the next level progress.

So why take all that away with the revamp in December '23, when Level 100 was introduced, and the new super easy system? Old system Level 59-60 needed 30,000XP (1500km). New system, Level 59-60 needs only 6,500XP (325km). No sense of achievement at all.

All I can think of why they would do this, is perhaps to try and keep the attention of newer Zwifters? Maybe people ditching Zwift started way back then, and in a desperate attempt to keep new/newer people engaged, they made chasing that next level carrot much much easier?

It seems that Level achievements on Zwift are very much diminished now.
I’m well over 1 million XP, and “only” Level 87

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Thanks @Jon it’s very much appreciated that you provided an update :+1:

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Please do this in time for roll out.
Currently stuck on Level 100 with 3.7 million in banked XP which seems to have zero value.

Do not need more unlocks, but like the idea of the Level 100 jersey changing number (with no level limit)

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Impressive!

Even with a prestige system it’ll take you some considerable time to work through re-earning all that XP!

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Yeah, this is probably the way that would result in the least amount of complaints. If there’s banked XP with new targets for levels that will upset folks who got tons of XP before, and if you just re-level people to the new system that will upset anyone who drops back levels.

Honestly I personally prefer any solution that gets rid of banked XP, even if it means I drop back a few levels - mainly because banked XP is super confusing, and makes it so people with the same XP can have wildly different levels, but I know that not everyone will feel that way.

Edit: And by “getting rid of banked XP” I mean, put people at the level they should be at based on their XP, with no need for any banked XP in the system.

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Yep, 100%. Banked XP is the biggest issue I have with all the level adjustment stuff. The only issue, really. Just put me where my XP gets me.

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Un-bank all the XP.

Divide total lifetime XP by 100,000 and call that the Level.

Maintain rewards for those who have already earned them.

Job done.

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100,000 per level… that’s crazy… so someone with 3 million XP would be level 30???

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@Jon

Total lifetime earned XP translated to a level is THE fairest way of dealing with this issue.

Divide total XP by 10.000 (debatable) for the first 50 levels = 500,000
Then add 5.000XP extra for the next 10 levels and thereafter.
So, from level 61-70 one would need 15.000XP and level 71-80 needs 20.000XP per level.

That way a 1 million XP rider will show level 76 and 1.75 million is needed for level 100
From level 100 you already need 40.000XP to level up.
A rider score of 2,850.000 will put you at level 125 and 4,250.000 is needed for level 150
Just keep leveling up and quit the XP banking stuff.

I’m thinking most of us are not interested in another pair of socks or helmet.

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