Zwift XP points for Climbing & Distance instead of Only Distance

It would be great if XP were rewarded for Climbing in addition to Distance.

Right now I can go and take an hour and a half to climb Alpe Du Zwift and collect XP for 34km. It’s a big effort. With about the same effort I could ride close to 50km on flatter roads and collect way more XP.

As I’m currently trying to get my level up to 25 I’m opting for flatter roads even though I would prefer to be doing more climbing. It feels like an XP penalty for wanting to tackle some of the climbs.

I would like to vote for XP to be rewarded for both Elevation gained & Distance traveled.

What do other people think? If you agree, please vote… :slight_smile:

Z

I would agree with you!

Makes sense to me. Effort eXPended, as it were.

I would also like that, but I feel like the free kms going downhill almost make up for the effort.

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Steve M
I agree as well, as I too have always preferred climbing to cruising.

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The free downhills are good, but I’m usually crunched for time to get a workout in so the extra time for a bit of coasting doesn’t seem well spent. I guess I could leave my trainer coasting downhill when I’m done a workout…

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Completely agree and I also think intensity should be a factor in awarding XP in structured workouts. 5 minutes is awarded 53 XP regardless of your intensity. It doesn’t seem that it would be difficult to award XP based on percentage of FTP.

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My view is that climbing is offset by downhills. If you want to get stronger, climb. If you’re short on time, climb 65-70% of the time you have available then U Turn.

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I don’t see the point in riding just to collect the XP points, unless it’s your only motivation to ride.

I do see their worth at the start when it much easier to get up the levels but after a while aren’t they are a bit pointless, does anybody care what bike / kit you ride in the virtual world other than yourself?

Ride what you enjoy or want training wise and forget about the points, eventually you will get level 25 and then what? Join others demanding more levels I guess?

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I hear what you are saying Richard. From my time crunched perspective, all available training time needs to be devoted to putting in solid efforts towards improving my fitness. If I have 60 minutes to get in a workout I would prefer to spend the majority of it putting in a solid effort. If head downhill after 45 minutes of climbing and coast for 15 minutes I’m only spending 45 minutes doing work. The 15 minutes downhill on a mountain are not providing a fitness enhancing stimulus. Since my priority is increasing fitness over increasing Zwift XP the choice is obvious to me. In many ‘games’ experience points and rewards are earned for variety of different things. I would like it if Zwift XP were awarded in a manner that rewards a variety of efforts more equally. One hour of climbing should earn more XP than one hour of coasting downhill. Perhaps the completely offset each other but if you only have time to do the climbing portion I think more XP should be rewarded.

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XP points are not the only thing that motivates me to ride more on Zwift but they are certainly one of them. They provide another small incentive to get me on the trainer which is a good thing. I like working toward a goal. Foremost are my fitness goals and being able to work towards a different goals at the same time makes it a little more likely that I will get in an extra workout in a given week. I put in more work when I was trying to unlock to Tron bike and increased my FTP at the same time.

Don’t care a heck of a lot what I look like in the virtual world but I do like to check my vitual Strava segment times and work to improve them. Unlocking a faster virtual bike does help me improve my virtual segment times. And working to improve my virtual segment times is another little incentive to get on the trainer. It makes it a little more fun. It also means that when I get out in the real world on my bike my virtual fitness turns out to be real fitness. I seem to have more fun on my bike when I’m in better shape. :slight_smile:

I do get your point, and I did think about using my wife’s eBike for a while.

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As a rider who is trying to complete the climbing challenge I really like this suggestion. At the moment I feel like I’m having to prioritise climbing over level ups. While I do agree that you get ‘free XP’ for downhills it doesn’t workout the same - if I do 1 1/2hrs up the Alpe I’ll ride about 40km; if I do the same on a flat course I’ll do about 50km…so proportionately a significant difference inXP awarded.

I agree.

I agree. Training is about duration not distance.

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Definitely been asked for. This example from 2016 had 110 votes:

https://gozwift.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/205145333-Add-climbing-XP

More than two years go “TomH” from Zwift said he’d add it to the request list. But despite a lot of support nothing has come of it.

This one from earlier this year had 19:

https://gozwift.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360003378772-Make-climbs-really-count-towards-XP-points-in-Zwift-

I’m sure I could find more requests for it if I wanted to.

Personally I’d like it too because I agree that some of us have limited time but we still want to target the mountains for training purposes. Because we cover less distance as a result, we’re at a disadvantage in the quest for cool gear. And despite what some people say about Zwift being “all about training”, that’s simply not the case. It’s a game too, so in-game progression is as important to some of us as physical development.

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Some kind of XP for climbs (even if only minor) would be great. I’ve got around 200 miles worth of XP left (excluding power-ups and unforeseen achievement badges) to get before reaching level 12 and unlocking Alpe Du Zwift and since I’m so keen on doing that I can see myself spending the next couple of weeks grinding out the miles on flater courses when I prefer hills. Perhaps instead of awarding XP as a function of distance or altitude it could be calculated on work (power * time) instead?

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Or combine this with other suggestions on increasing level caps / dropping levels entirely (instead earn points to spend in an in-game “gear” / avatar customisation shop), and just re-use the TSS-equivalent metric the game already has to award these points (since such a metric is already based on the combination of intensity and duration, and what we’re really asking for is the harder you work (intensity) the greater the reward — whether you’re climbing or sprinting shouldn’t really matter).

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I agree wth you. I think it shuold be cool if you get 1xp point for every vertical meter.

Agreed.

Looking at watts over time (W/T) would show that miles climbing vs flat miles has a statistically significant difference. If I’m looking to grow my ability as a Zwifter (new or experienced), demonstrating watts/time (W/T) should be meaningful. Watts over time (T/W) is likely a measurement of significance to a rider looking to improve their ability.

Realizing not all Zwifters possess the finical ability or desire to determine W/T. What is fair? Should spending more money on a “smart trainer” allow me to grow points faster? Let me ask this “should more points in Zwift allow me to access to more efficient tools” (frame, wheels …) Isn’t this a similar question?

If I choose to spend the money, should I not see some return (why buy cutting edge or premium products like Zwift)? Their is a difference in the tools riders use to interact with Zwift. The ability to feel resistance up hill vs down hill is significant. It is reflected in watts, hart rate and smart trainer resistance (in measuring energy consumed, the direction an amount of mass is moved over time is a measurement). From a pure psychics point of view, riding down hill is not equal to riding up hill once the element (variable) of time is added (W/T).

The goal; “To be better”. In Zwift, each of us determines what that means and how it will be measured (against our past or others performance). I believe each of us should continue have the ability to make that decision. Whether its up hill, down hill, drafting, better tools, “power ups”, or an “unfair advantage”, Zwift is about each of us and our desires as an individual rider.

Just say’ing

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