Hey Andre, I get what you’re saying, but to me (respectfully) the Zwift perspective is nonsense…
For a novice indoor athlete, in their first few months of Zwift (or wherever other application), I can see how unlocking levels and virtual gear might be an added motivational task.
However, for most that reached the highest levels due to pain, sweat and tears (without buying an account the real reward is the fitness gained and the virtual miles booked while training. The level just recognized longevity riding in Zwift and miles booked.
…but I guess the whole issue is exactly relating Zwift to “MMORPGs”, for me is a training tool, and every time I see Zwift associated with “games” makes me want to cut my guts out …lol…
Obviously, just my two cents if an opinion can be worth that much LOL
Ah, I see what you mean, and I definitely agree despite how I worded my post. Zwift is workouts gamified, it’s not a direct comparison with a classic MMORPG. Zwift only fits the MMO part of the acronym, after all. I
Honestly, to me, it doesn’t really matter either way. I’m not close to max level at all, and I have years of progression left to get there. Besides, I agree that like leveling system is not a core motivation. Maybe once you’ve reached max level that changes, to some extent? At least it’s the impression I get from people in this thread. I suspect overall that’s a pretty small number of people seeing as it takes so long to get there in the first place, but I think Zwift should try to cater to this base of very dedicated riders. I guess the question is “only” to figure out what’s the best way to do that.
giving double XPs for some events makes them essentially meaningless. If someone can ride a route and get twice as many XPs for exactly the same ride as someone that does it in a different event then what do they even mean?
Most games have strategies to maximize your XP gain, not to say that XP really means anything anyhow either way in any game, but it’s not uncommon to have ways to maximize XP, and events that give you more XP. I don’t personally think that it makes XP that much less meaningful if it really had meaning without these events anyhow.
XP can already be earned in very different ways. For example, “free” XP freewheeling down a hill where someone else might choose to pedal. Those with metric settings for distance gain XP at a different rate to those using miles. In a big event you can be pulled along in a pack the same distance (with the same XP) with much less effort that if someone else dropped off the pack and did the same distance with no draft. Bugs can make people travel too fast, the list goes on and on.
The playing field isn’t very level anyway. It’s gamified.
Maybe they should have done XP based on total TSS - But then people would figure out a way to game that anyhow by keeping their estimated zFTP low and maximizing ‘threshold’ workouts too
Yes, I’m not a fan of double XP for events, especially when it’s on a route I’ve ridden heaps of times already. Prefer to just ride at whatever time I want rather than having to get on Zwift at a particular time for some event.
Add 100 new levels and after every 5 levels, Zwift randomly removes one item from your garage but you get to “lock” 5 from each category which cannot be removed (frames, wheels, kits, etc)
I still don’t see why they couldn’t just change the pace of leveling up – that is, make the points req’d scale upward exponentially between levels. Eg. from 59 to 60 needs x points, 60-61 needs 2x, 61-62 needs 4x etc…
i think that would very quickly mean that the levels would never be attained
it took 30,000 XP to get from 59 to 60. so doubling each level would mean that to get from 64 to 65 would take 960,000 XP which is 128% of the total XP needed to get from 1 to 60!
I don’t see the problem with getting to 60 then going back to 1 then have an overall counter for how many times you’ve hit 60 and just keep cycling (pun intended!) through them.
the real reward is the fitness gained and the virtual miles booked while training. The level just recognized longevity riding in Zwift and miles booked.
TdW coming up! Earning double XP and even leveling up faster! Double fun! 