When Zwift released levels 51-60 back in September 2022 they included “accelerated leveling” for Zwifters who had accumulated additional XP above the 500,000 required to hit level 50.
Related: XP, Levels, and Unlocks for Zwift Cyclists
The Big Idea
Your level in Zwift is based purely on how much XP you’ve earned.
Well, sort of.
Both times Zwift increased its level cap (from 25 to 50 in December 2018, then from 50 to 60 in September 2022) many Zwifters had already earned enough XP to level up to the new cap.
Example: John Doe Zwifter had earned 760,000XP by August 2022,ut he was stuck at level 50 because that was the highest possible level. Then Zwift released levels 51-60, with 60 requiring 750,000 XP.
The goal of “accelerated leveling” is to give high-level Zwifters like John Doe the fun of working to level up, even if they’ve already earned the XP required to hit higher levels. Otherwise he would just log into Zwift and see 10 new level achievements immediately pop up!
So Zwift devised a scheme whereby these high-level Zwifters would still have to earn some XP to level up, but their leveling up would be accelerated using XP the Zwifter had already earned.
Acceleration Rates and Indicator
With levels 26-50 that acceleration was at a rate of 8x. So for every 1XP earned, Zwift used an additional 7XP that the Zwifter had already earned, meaning you went through the levels 8x faster than usual.
With levels 51-60, Zwift slowed the acceleration to 2x.
If you’re on the accelerated track, you’ll see an indicator on your pause screen showing your current level with an arrow pointing to the level you will be accelerated to.
A Recent Visual Change
Until recently, Zwifters on the accelerated track would see a doubled XP number whenever Xp was earned. (I, for example, saw 40xp with each new km. This was Zwift giving me the standard 20xp per km, plus adding another 20xp that I had already earned.)
The pause screen also showed the current XP count Zwift was using to calculate my level. Even though I had earned well over the 750,000XP required to hit level 60, the main menu showed a lower value (say, 525,540) while I was working from Level 51 (520,000XP) to 52 (540,000XP).
This UI presented a few problems. First, the +40XP popup made it look like I was earning double XP when I really wasn’t. Secondly, there was no place where I could see how much XP I had actually earned.
In early April, Zwift changed the UI to clarify accelerated leveling. Recently they made a second change to how the game displays newly-earned XP. But there was one problem: nobody announced it, and now it’s causing some confusion for astute Zwifters who knew how it looked previously!
This is how it works now:
So Zwift has made two key changes in recent weeks:
- The pause screen now shows your total earned XP.
- A doubled XP number is no longer shown. All you see is the actual new XP you’ve earned.
Questions or Comments?
Post below!
It sounds like there’s now a hidden “effective XP” that Zwift calculates, which is what determines when you’re going to level up. The problem is that the user isn’t shown that value anywhere in game or out. That makes no sense whatsoever. Annoying as it was, at least the old system let you see how many XP to your next level-up.
Yes, not being able to see what my effective XP is when it is determing what my displayed level is. I was getting into and enjoying unlocking the new levels at a faster rate through a combination of what I’m riding and adding into a portion of what I’m allowed to draw down from my previous earnings. I think from memory, when 25-50 were introduced we had a choice of getting all of it in one go or in bits. I’m using this leveling up as a way to motivate myself to get onto zwift and onto the bike. I’d… Read more »
When 26-50 were released, there was an option to choose accelerated leveling or standard, there was not an all-at-once option.
I’ve always wondered whether the standard XP (20 per km) earned during these “accelerated leveling” periods was also added to the “lifetime” rider score. It appears now that it is now that the lifetime rider score is displayed. After reading this piece, I’m still not sure if that was the case historically, though.
It definitely did
Definitely not the case historically. Historically, if you were in accelerated leveling, the rider score shown was your “effective” score, you might say – the score that has you at your current level. It wasn’t showing your lifetime score (which couldn’t be found anywhere..)
Right, so as I understand it, during accelerated leveling, your lifetime rider score used to be “paused” whereas now it continues to grow. A welcome change for those of us at ~1M XP.
No, lifetime XP was never paused. That would be scandalous!
I think the screenshots in this article may be mixed up. The “new rider score” with +20XP is actually lower than the screenshot on the left with the original rider score.
Curses! Fixed.
Quit with the games and the accelerated XP points after you’ve hit your ceiling…. Just give me what I have earned that has been banked away and set the new ceiling at 100.
What is the point in this? Sounds like total nonsense.
It’s far more complex than it should be. The necessity of a ZI article to explain it, and the endless forum posts about it, are signs of poor design.
Isn’t this article 7 months too late? I imagine a significant number of the Zwifters who were eligible for accelerated levelling have completed the process by reaching level 60 or the point where the accelerated levelling would take them.
So when this changed occurred which was yesterday for me, I was about 8,000 XP points away from level 60. Now I have no F..ing idea how much I have to ride to get to that level. There is nowhere to look. So I think this article is very timely for those stuck in a suspended animation of XP BS
It is not, Jon. 7 months ago, the UI for accelerated leveling was different… and we explained how it worked in posts back then.
Then Zwift changed the UI in the last month (some folks still aren’t seeing it) – hence the new post.
Why has Zwift also prevented the Wattbike gears being displayed in the screen as it was top left under the data such as power and cadence? Any reason?
A bug, it appears. See https://forums.zwift.com/t/no-gears-displayed-wattbike-1-34/605333/23
It would be cool if Zwift would make XP worth something more than just accessories or jerseys. How about leveling up gets you access to some of the past Halloween costumes, or at Level 60 (and enough drops) you can add the Big Wheel to your garage?
Sounds like zwift, as usual, trying to dig themselves out of a hole they invented. Just level everyone up to where they need to be and stop trying to be clever, simples.
“The goal of “accelerated leveling” is to give high-level Zwifters like John Doe the fun of working to level up,”
This is one of the most frustrating and annoying aspect of Zwift for long time users of this app. I already did the work, why are you punishing me because you think that this is better for me?
I would much rather be credited immediately with the appropriate level based on my score.
I do not understand why rolling out new levels in a batch is a thing.
Accelerated leveling? I’m all for it because I wouldn’t like to be bumped up 10 levels in one go, but it’s actually slowed down leveling since we need more XP’s to reach the same level.
was stuck at level 50 for a few years, then level 60 was not hard to reach. Can you ask the Zwift peoples that Aunt Ruth would like some higher levels to chase? We’d be just fine making it very (mega XPs needed) difficult for each level about 60 so that sub 50 level riders are not discouraged by seeing much higher level numbers.
Zwift should add XP for climbing. I’m quite a slow climber, so recently I did Road to Sky route, and it took me about 2 hours and 10 minutes. A few minutes of that was coasting down the Alpe, so I did about 31K altogether. I earned 880 XP, including the 250XP bonus for completing the Alpe. Today I did a flat 41K on the Tempus Fugit course. It took me 1 hour, 27 minutes. I earned 1160 XP (I rode the TT bike and repeatedly went through the arch at the end of the sprint). The Road to Sky… Read more »