I would argue to leave power ups as is.
Racers are used to them and changes just introduce chaos for no gain.
It is hard to argue why we even need them in the first place.
I would support doing away with them.
If they are to be, then I do like the idea of killing the xp in a race but give xp if the rider chooses to hold a power up under an arch.
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I had a feeling I would see this request in this thread… 
Organisers already have the option to not use them.
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There’s already not enough luck and uncertainty in Zwift races. Power ups are OK. It’s like flats and crashes and mechanicals, but more positive because it’s all good luck instead of bad luck. Except for burrito. Burrito must die.
To maximize uncertainty, create some randomness in how long a powerup lasts. Or a “Joker” powerup that could be anything, you don’t know until you activate it.
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True. How about in Neokyo one of the vehicles occasionally takes a wrong turn and wipes you out?
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Thanks for reaching out to the community at the consideration and exploration be stage; it’s really appreciated!
Agree with the idea that the aero is probably too powerful (or long in duration) as is, but proposed changes are too dramatic and would make racing chaotic. If equalizing power ups is the goal, best solution might be just make aero less powerful, eliminate XP, and leave others as they are. I have a feeling that if you make the two changes below as proposed a lot more race organizers will start to opt not use them at all.
- Ghost - increase duration to 30 to 45 seconds
- Burrito - increase duration to 1 minute
Can’t imagine the craziness and unfair havoc that might result from multiple folks disappearing from competition for 45 seconds. And this thread shows how unpopular the Burrito already is at current time.
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I’m not much of a racer so I’ll defer to others who do race regularly. The little experience I’ve had with the Burrito was fun, and offered enough of an edge to be “tactically significant”, not suggesting a need for changes.
The Feather on the other hand - I’d like to see duration - or even duration and intensity - increased significantly. It seems relatively weak to me compared to the others.
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if anyone would like to experience first hand how loved and appreciated the burrito is then join any one of the " STAGE 2: FLAT IS FAST—The Fan Flats" events going on at the moment (in B, your mileage may vary depending on cat), turn in game chat on, turn the swear filter off and enjoy the show
bonus points if you are lucky enough roll one yourself, go to the rear third of the peloton, and use it
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Yeah, that was me in Richmond cussing out the idiots and I’m still bitter about it.
I think it was last month’s race series where I was gently explaining the workings of Zwift power-ups to some more idiots in France after we got dropped over the aquaduct KOM and were trying to chase back on to the lead group with people using the burrito. So, having to deal with Burrito abuse two months in a row is starting to wear my patience a bit thin I’m afraid.
Burrito is now the no.1 suicide power-up (after Zwift fixed the anvil which was previously the power-up most likely to see riders inflicting self harm).
According to Zwift Insider the burrito affects everyone within a 2.5 metre radius so that means the rider in front of you is affected. If the rider in front of you loses the draft then guess what, you lose the draft too. If you’re struggling to hang on (or in the second group trying to chase the front group) then the burrito is just as likely to blow up in your own face as it is to hurt anyone else.
If Zwift won’t get rid of the burrito (which they should) then they could at least fix it. The burrito should only affect those riders behind you (and maybe 10 metres behind), not those in front or beside.
Half the time when the burrito is used it seems to have no effect. Everyone and their dog is usually dropping them at the same time so most of the time it all cancels out.
For the record I managed to stick with the front group in Richmond. Only about 60 people out of 180 starters did as so many people were self sabotaging themselves because they don’t know how the burrito works.
As for the other power-ups:
The Ghost is useless as it is now. Definitely needs increased time. Maybe even a minute.
The Steam Roller is significantly over powered on gravel. I think it is quite possible the most powerful power-up in the game at the moment although severely limited in it’s use (ie only really useful on gravel). If you increase the duration you should decrease the effectiveness.
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Nerf the aero to ~5 seconds.
Not a fan of the power-ups full stop, but at least when things work as planned, everyone gets the same in the Zwift Insider Tiny Races.
This weekend’s race 4 is ~6.2Km on Island Outskirts with the anvil, the downhill section after the climb to Shia Sprint is longer than the anvil active time, depending on how the race is going you have some constructive flexibility as to when to use it.
Thanks for asking the community for our opinions. Here are my views (in italic, under your original suggestions)
- If you are in a race event, it should not be possible to get XP when power-ups are active, you should always get a power up.
- Absolutely agree with this. This would be a great change!
- Truck - increase duration by 30 seconds. (currently it increases draft by 150%)
- I think keeping this to 30secs is strong enough, but I’d be happy for this to be 1min
- Feather - increase duration by 30 to 45 seconds OR increase power with a 10-20% decrease in weight ?
- 30 seconds total duration (at the same power as it currently is) would make this a more effective PU
- Ghost - increase duration to 30 to 45 seconds
- 30 seconds total duration (keeping the functionality where it can’t be deployed near finish)
- Burrito - increase duration to 1 minute
- 15 seconds total duration. Used correctly this is enough to help a strategic move. Used incorrectly, this is short enough not to cause too much damage.
- Steam Roller - increase duration by 15 seconds
- Reduce (from 30 secs) to 15 seconds. (or just keep as is)
- Anvil - don’t think it needs changing. Perhaps increase duration and reduce power by a bit?
- Personally, I’d like to see this reduce to 15 seconds BUT make it ‘non-smart’ again so it does have the potential to have a negative impact if used incorrectly. So much FUN seeing Anvils deployed at the wrong time. As a racer, you have to know the course, right?
I tried to keep the power ups to either a 15 or 30 second duration, it just keeps things clean / easier to remember.
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I mostly agree with the above reply.
Keep aero unchanged.
Keep draft unchanged.
Feather needs to be 30s.
Steamroller needs to be shorter.
Anvil can stay 30s but less power/wt added.
Ghost needs to be 20s but disabled in last 200m.
Burrito keep the same. It is just not understood very well, so maybe a better description.
- Aero: 15 seconds - This is enough for the sprint. Keep it as is.
- Feather: 15 seconds - It is too weak IMO. 15 sec. is nothing when the grade is high. 30 sec will make a difference.
- Burrito: 10 seconds - This is the only power-up where you can directly negatively impact other riders. It feels bad. Power-ups should only impact you directly in a positive way. It is as dirty as throwing banana peel in Mario Cart. I hate it! If you are going to keep it, just make the rider behind hurt.
- Truck: 30 seconds - It lasts long enough, but should be stronger.
- Steam Roller: 30 seconds - Good enough as it is.
- Ghost: 10 seconds - Useless as 10 sec. It would be nice if it could be used to initiate a breakaway, but I wouldn’t want it enabled at the end of the race.
- Anvil: 30 seconds - Good enough as it is.
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- +XP: Definitely has no place in power-up enabled races.
- Truck: Increase to 45 seconds.
- Feather: Increase to 20-30 seconds. Keep the same power. Making it more powerful would be too strong for short climbs, like Richmond.
- Ghost: Maybe no change. If the incoming new pack dynamics work as intended, this may become more effective.
- Burrito: Don’t change the duration and consider tweaking it’s effect.
- Steam Roller: Decrease to 15 seconds and consider tweaking its effect for different surfaces. This is absolutely race breaking on certain segments (Temple KOM), yet can have very little effect on others (Crit City).
- Anvil: Keep at 30 seconds, decrease effect, remove the “smart” effect and require more thought on where to use it.
Don’t know if this is on the table for discussion, but having a feature to assign specific power-ups to a banner, instead of randomly awarding them, would create a nice layer of strategy, rather than praying to RNGesus for the right powerup.
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The burrito should be eliminated. Or anyone using it should have their power reduced by 50% for the duration of the power up – due to the stomach cramps.
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I think they’re all good, but feather should have slightly increased duration (maybe power?) to level things out. Ghost should be increased a bit, and steam roller should definitely be extended.
I like your first idea- no more +10xp when you desperately need something and get rewarded with… sadness 
. Though it definitely plays into the randomness factor of things, I feel like people would agree that it should get booted in powerup-enabled races.
Whatever happens in terms of equalizing the various power-ups, what do people think of the following: assuming you don’t already have a power-up, each time you pass through an arch, you get access to the full array of power-ups–that is, rather than Zwift randomly giving you one (or xp), you can cycle through the range of them and use any one of them you prefer, after which you don’t have any more until the next arch gives you the full range again, from which you can again choose the one you prefer (?)
Hey, I think a banana peel power up sounds 
From what I’ve read the current Breakaway Burrito disables the draft effect for all riders within 2.5 metres of your avatar. This would include riders in front of you but its not supposed to affect the draft you are receiving (I have no idea how this works unless it sort of gives you the Aero PU behind the scenes).
If the BB PU is intended to assist a breakaway does it currently achieve this in practice?
Should/does it:
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Assist an individual rider to form a break (e.g. I’m towards the front of my bunch and I use the BB PU, it would currently remove the draft, effectively increasing the effort/slowing everyone within 2.5 metres of me, but not myself, therefore giving me a chance to get a gap. Stronger riders could still come with me but at increased effort.)
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Assist a group of riders to form a break (e.g. I use my BB PU and within a second or 2 another rider also does. This would increase the number of surrounding riders affected. You wouldn’t want the PUs to cancel each other out so the riders using the PUs should be excluded from the impact of each other, possibly until the last PU played times out. This could assist multiple riders to form a breakaway.
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Assist an individual rider who has broken away to remain away?
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Assist a group of riders who have broken away remain away?
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Assist an individual rider to bridge from one group to another?
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Assist a group of riders to bridge from one group to another?
Should the BB PU be disabled if played when you’re not near the front of your bunch? Does it cause splits?
Could a team mate play it strategically? Get between you and a rival and cause a split?
Like the idea of removing the XP option from powerup arches.
Burrito is horrible. 15s is plenty. All other powerups to 30s would work fine. Feather is fine as it is with 10% weight reduction but 30s would be better. i think if you start making powerups last for 45s it will be too long.
This is not correct. The Burrito definitely affects the riders around you AND yourself.
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