If you’re the sort of Zwifter who pays attention to your level progress and XP totals, you may have noticed a change Zwift quietly rolled out last week, increasing the XP required to level up if you are at level 28+.
Read below to learn how we got here, what’s changed, what hasn’t… and more.
A Short History of Zwift Levels
Zwift levels have been part of the game from early days, but initially they only went up to level 25. Many Zwifters reached that max level, and eventually Zwift added levels 26-50 in December 2018. This was the first time we saw accelerated leveling, where riders who had banked XP while sitting at level 25 could achieve higher levels more quickly (8x faster!) if they opted to. Riders enjoyed leveling up more quickly, but there was one problem: accelerated leveling was confusing.
In September 2022, Zwift added levels 51-60. Again, accelerated leveling was used if you had been at level 50 for a while. But this time it was only 2x faster, and you couldn’t opt out of accelerated leveling.
In December 2023, Zwift added levels 61-100. They also revamped how accelerated leveling worked, making it significantly more complex. On top of that, the overall level curve was also reduced and smoothed, so it was much easier to achieve each level and the amount of XP needed to go from level to level increased steadily.
While lower-level riders were happy about easier level progression, Zwifters without math degrees were largely flummoxed about how accelerated leveling now worked. Additionally, it quickly became apparent that it was much too easy to level up, when at least one Zwifter rode their way from level 61-100 in 25 days.
In April 2024, Zwift announced that they were planning to change XP requirements for levels 28 and above to make leveling up more difficult. (The XP required to reach level 100 would increase from 591,000 XP to 1,000,000 XP, so this was no small change.) Additionally, they decreased the weekly streak bonus so you only received it once per week.
Zwift got a lot of pushback on this proposed change (peruse the 500+ comment thread at your leisure), and the planned May rollout never happened.
Then last week, with no fanfare whatsoever, Zwift flipped the switch and enabled an updated XP/levels table. I started seeing comments almost immediately from Zwifters confused about why the XP needed to go to the next level had changed.
And that brings us to today. The new XP/levels table isn’t what was proposed in April. While it does increase level requirements from what rolled out in December 2023, it does not increase them as high as Zwift had proposed in April. More on that below…
Further Reading: All About Zwift XP, Levels, and Unlocks for Cyclists >
Out With the Old, In With the New
The new level requirements are spelled out on our main XP/unlocks page, but here’s a nice chart that makes them easy to understand. (Mouse over a line for details.)
As you can see, Zwift’s new level requirements are a significant increase from what was rolled out with levels 61-100 in December 2023. But they’re still much easier than what they would have been if Zwift had kept going with the original curve from 2022!
Note: while it’s not shown above, the XP required to repeatedly fill level 100 has increased from 12,000 to 20,000 with this update.
Why the Silence?
Reading Zwift’s forum, it seems Zwifters are more irked by Zwift’s lack of communication on this change than by the change itself. Why did Zwift choose to rejigger the levels without an announcement?
Unfortunately I can’t say, because I’m under an NDA with Zwift. (Why? Because that gives me access to advance notice on upcoming features and a place at the table in certain high-level discussions on overall product direction, among other things. I consider the “cost” of the NDA to be well worth the return.)
But what I will say is that Zwift’s XP table change would have gone unnoticed by many more Zwifters if it wasn’t for two (what I can only assume to be) bugs in the release:
- The graphical indicators for accelerated leveling were inexplicably removed for your current level, prompting Zwifters to think their acceleration was gone. (The acceleration is still there. Oddly enough, it seems those indicators return once you level up.)
- The XP needed for your next level-up seems to have increased with the rollout, so Zwifters who were tracking how many XP they had left to the next level saw that figure jump. This isn’t how Zwift had proposed the change would work in their April 2024 post: “There will be no change to the amount of XP required to reach your immediate next level – you’ll earn your next level based on the requirements of the previous system and the revised system will take effect after that.”
Unified Frustration
Zwifters disagree on many topics, but ask any rider who pays attention to levels and unlocks, and they’ll tell you two things:
- Leveling out, then playing catchup when new levels are added, is silly. Zwift should have built some sort of steadily-growing or even infinite leveling system into the game from the start.
- Accelerated leveling is ridiculously complicated.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Zwift needs a simple level system that never ends, giving every Zwifter something to shoot for. It’s mystifying how Zwift has done so much complex work to make indoor cycling accessible and engaging but still hasn’t rolled out a simple level system that consistently motivates all Zwifters.
Accelerated Leveling
Every time the topic of XP and levels pops up, questions about accelerated leveling are sure to follow. This is even more true this week, with the accelerated leveling indicators disappearing and XP requirements changing for most of the levels in the game!
So I’m just going to point you to this post, which has an “accelerated leveling” section that explains exactly how it works. At this point, I’ve learned to point people there, because if you can’t figure out the math from that post’s explanation, my explaining it to you personally probably won’t work either. (You can also read Zwift’s description of accelerated leveling, if you’d like.)
The nice thing is, like the internals of whatever device you’re reading this on, accelerated leveling works just fine, even if you don’t understand it. Each time you earn XP, the system does the math to get you to higher levels a bit more quickly. You just need to Ride On.
Questions or Comments?
Share your thoughts below.
A straight 5000xp per level, and no upper level limit.
And show us our XP on our profile screen.
Linear leveling is much less fun than it sounds, having higher levels require more work to earn feels much more rewarding.
It wouldn’t make a difference, though, if you could infinitely level up. At the end any hard work you have put would be mirrored in your level. Additionally it would be also easier to think of as riders with lower levels can level up faster, so it can be misleading for some folks in terms how quickly they could reach level XYZ. If leveling up is linear it’s simpler to reason about level progression.
There could be nothing more Zwifty than this:
Give people what they don’t want and haven’t asked for
Don’t tell anyone
Release it with bugs
Annoy pretty much all users unnecessarily
It’s a crying shame, because Zwift seemed to be doing a better job of reducing the biggest frustrations with the platform
Thanks for the explanation, Eric, and thanks for being critical of Zwift’s levelling
100%. They haven’t told anyone because they are too afraid of the criticism and then release it with bugs. It’s a good job there is no credible competition. Just another example of Zwift failing to listen to what it’s customers want and just doing what they want. The arrogance is unbelievable.
After the DCRainmaker Eric Min interview. Eric flat out said they were going to be more involved in the community and listen? Appears not.
Actually, loads of people were complaining that levelling up was too easy – so they have delivered something which a lot of people were being very vocal about. They just mishandled the messaging, by not messaging at all. Personally, I can get over that.
I’m with you on that, Tony. I think the change is a good one (easy for me to say, I reached level 100 about a month ago). 😅
I’ve just hit level 50 and so am greatly affected by this, but i approve. Moving up a level per week was too quick in my view.
I am hoping that the next level expansion shows that they have learned some lessons about what not to do. I also just became a level 100 a few weeks ago, but I’m at 1,365,000 XP right now because of how many XP I had at the last expansion. If I have 1.6 or 1.8 million XP at the time of the next expansion, I would like there to be an option for riders in our position to choose instantaneous promotion based on accumulated XP, accelerated leveling, or neither (just start plugging away from 100). They could even call the first option “teleport” after the feature I think I’ve used all of about twice while riding. If all three choices are given, exactly nobody will be able to complain that it’s unfair and they didn’t get what *they* wanted
Yes. A lot of people found the time to complain about this. Now, a different group will. They can’t win by doing nothing or by doing anything.
Setting levels by 1 to 20 at 5000 then 20 to 30 to 7000 then 30 to 40 to 9000 etc etc would be easier to work and understand and just not have a top level – keep going so if you go past level 999 then yould be looking at 1000000 xp probably. 😁
I’m 100. Nothing really changes when you reach 100. So no need to rush. Doesn’t really matter much. The socks are not worth it. 😆
This. Surely we ride for the benefits of riding, training and socialising. The levels thing is just incidental and it always amazes me how many people get fixated on that rather than on the real reason they ride.
If you reach level 200 then Eric Min signs a pair of the socks and sends them to you.
Are they new or used socks? That makes all the difference.
I’ll send them back….
hmmm, price increase, sneaky non announcement of levelling changes, Zwift racing score that seems to be a bit iffy and the usual gripe about pointless drops… Zwift needs to be very careful as even a fanboi my patience is being severely tried!! John (spokeys) level 92
Agree, it’s a complete mess how they’ve handled it.l, especially after the price hike. I’m in a pause at the moment trying MyWhoosh/IV etc. and I get the feeling I’m not the only one.
In fairness, myWhoosh is just as good (if you don’t care about there being tons of people, which I don’t).
Youre not, paused, just doing the free 25km a month until i decide if its worth returning full time, mywhoosh bit glitchy for me, but as its free, i can live with that
There are now lots of good alternatives to Zwift. I’m mostly on the platform just once a week these days, to keep my leveling up weekly bonus streak intact (level 73 now, hoping to make level 100 before I die). Having much more fun on Rouvy with the balance of my indoor cycling—where I’ve made it to level 70 completely angst-free.
It would be cool to see the proposed but never implemented may 2024 curve on the graph just for fun.
I don’t have access to that precise data, but we know level 100 was 1 million XP, so it’s pretty easy to see where the curve would have been (between the Sept 22 and Dec 23 lines).
Accelerated leveling, (the one with 3 arrows), appears to be gone.
yes mine went from 3 to >> arrows and from 98 to 95, go figure…;-)
Same for the one with 2 arrows.
I hope this means the UI revamp is coming really soon and they just want to hide this unpopular change under the excitement from that.
I probably wouldn’t have noticed without this article lol. Either way, I’m not bothered. I like leveling up, yes, but it’s not my sole purpose in using Zwift.
ZwiftHQ has been silly with levels for quite some time. I don’t need neato burrito socks or shirts every single level. Maybe just give me a few extra powerups on my next ride or something. Or just give me nothing, I’ll take my little hit of dopamine as a reward and move on. Cool stuff every 10 or 25 levels might be interesting. Make levels infinite and increasingly harder to obtain by some easy formula or mapping. Quit wasting resources and pissing people off unnecessarily on this. And don’t be sneaky.
Each 10 level step a custom paint job addon in a specific colour that you can apply to any bike you own. Collect them all!
Poor timing, Zwift. Raise the bar after many have had the opportunity to literally and figuratively race up to Level 100.
So how does that work if you are level 100? You just sit there while everyone else is affected by the XP change?
How do I know? I’m not at level 100.
This hilariously happened just after I got to level 100…and the next day I was back to level 99, but owned the socks and the confetti. A week later I’m back to level 100 again, fun times
I’m not bothered at all. It was too easy before which devalued the process. Now leveling up feels like a bit more of an accomplishment, even though at this point (lvl88) the levels don’t really matter much.
The Shed. Give me a place to store the bikes, wheels and kit I NEVER use. Please, Zwift…
Leveling up is still much easier with introductions of stuff like portal.
Beside if you really wanted to level up just use a bot. Average 1000xp per hour passively at 50kmh. 3000 exp per hour if you are doing portals with the bot actively.
Here is a secondary goal for wanting lots of level and drops. When you transfer your account from Zwift to Mywhoosh, you can carry the extra levels and drops/coins over. Not only you get to stop paying $19.99, but you get to keep all that extra level which is a nice bonus.
Yep, another potential nail in the Zwift coffin
You carry some over but it’s a fraction of what you earned on zwift really. its not equivalent. Plus now you have to pay to get certain things on MW
I ultimately don’t care that much. I’m well beyond when levels really mean anything other than more silly junk in my garage. I just find it mildly annoying it keeps changing all the time. Seems like a waste of effort on their side that could be spent on more important enhancements. I feel for the devs that keep getting the levelling stories.
A problem that Zwift has created, and now exacerbated, is that many long-term Zwifters feel that their accumulated XP, and by extension themselves, have been devalued.
For example, the Zwifters with enough accumulated XP to be at level 100 under the “new-new” system are still in the mid-level 70s and 80s. With this latest iteration, their accelerated XP has been further devalued and instead of 98 (for example), they are now only accelerated to 94-ish. It’s baffling, Eric, that you think that would not have been noticed.
Likewise, Zwifters on the verge of levelling up were knocked back by this update. Again, not nice, and unlikely to go unnoticed.
But, yes, the lack of communication may well have soured people even more than the price increases. The latter is explainable by economics, the former reinforces the notion that Zwift lacks both technical leadership and respect for their community of riders.
I never said I thought it would go unnoticed. I said (quoting myself): “Zwift’s XP table change would have gone unnoticed by many more Zwifters if it wasn’t for two (what I can only assume to be) bugs in the release…”
And I stand by that 100%. Yes, people commenting here and on the forum noticed the change. But I absolutely believe there are still a huge number of Zwifters who haven’t noticed it, even with the two bugs that made it more obvious.
Fair point, I stand corrected. But the issue around communication stands. You have a great platform from which you can advocate for greater transparency rather than being silenced via an NDA.
To be fair to Eric, the advocacy around greater transparency is best addressed with Zwift direct, not indirectly through a website. So the NDA does not prevent Eric suggesting to Zwift that they should handle these situations better…and I am sure that he will use his contacts to do so on our behalf.
Some Zwifties don’t care enough about levels to notice. Don’t have a clue as to what percentage that is though.
I’m a level 100 rider for a few months now and I miss the hunt for the next level. So even though leveling up may take longer now (which is less fun), you do get to have the leveling up experience for longer (which is more fun). Depending on whether you enjoy the finish or the road, the update is good or bad 🤷🏼♂️
Do you have a new chart for the XP per level?
It’s in the post above.
If you want a text list, you can see that here: https://zwiftinsider.com/points-levels-unlocks/
I see now, sorry!
That no longer works for many of us whose XP was beyond what the last level 100 update was set at (591,000?). You’ve posted charts in the past showing XP needed to reach each level. Such a chart would be helpful.
Thank you.
Once you get the Fire Socks on level 50 it doesn’t really matter 😉
I don’t know… confetti socks are pretty fun too!
Yes Fire socks & 100 mile jersey.
As for all the other socks and jerseys, I’m hoping they will give me a virtual charity bag so that I can clear out my virtual garage of all this virtual clutter.
I dont mind the change. It was a bit too easy to be honest. But something like this that effects everyone on Zwift without even a notice in the release notes is a communication disaster and only backfires.
And I am bit disappointed that they didnt adress the banking of XP in the same release. Who cares if people will go to level 130 at once. just get rid of it once and for all.
And either come up with new rewards above level 100, that isnt that hard, or do special ones only at certain level. Every 10 levels or so.
Why not keep to the Dec 23 xp style, and add another 150 levels so there’s 250 levels (or more) so the maxed ot zwifters still have to work at it like the rest of us without acceleration, why keep the maxed out xp lot maxed out? it’s unfair on us mere mortals still climbing the xp ladder.
The exp growth was never fair. If you tried to level up back in 2018 it would have taken forever to level up. Then you had the portals and you get 250 xp bonus for going downhill (exploit removed).
And how about all those riding in the imperial system that lost 5-8% of the exp because they only counted 1 mile as 30xp for the longest time.
I ride with Imperial system, so I did lose the xp over using the metric system, and have since 2017, yes the old levels took longer to level up, there were only 25 levels when I first started.
So, I’ve got 461000xp, which is enough for L73 but I’m actually down at L57. Pretty sure this’ll change again before I run out of “accelerated leveling up”.
Skee-Ball
There should definitely be a max level. If levels were unlimited I’d have no motivation to chase them like I am now. There would be nothing to complete.
I would be onboard with a percentile that showed what percentile you’re in amongst other Zwifters. I would try and be in the top 1% of all XPs.
A button to reset back to level
0 would be fun. I’m at 97 so nearly there.
if I could reach 100 and optionally reset to zero, I could do it again. But it should keep a visible tally of how many times someone has reset back to zero. It could also add stars to your Level 100 Jersey or your name for each time you’ve done it.
They keep messing around with levels when they could fix decent things like adding decent data layers.
What level you are in relation to others does not matter. I’ve been Zwifting since 2016 and have 27000km ridden and I’m level 74. There’s guys with half that amount and are level 100. Zwift has dropped the ball and in my opinion don’t do enough testing on the back end. These changes to me feel like “whoops that didn’t work, let’s change it. Ohh that didn’t work either let’s change it” No one is on the same playing field now, so it doesn’t really matter.
Because the world needs more virtual socks 🤣
The accelerated levelling up… I’m on about 715k points, I’m not accelerating and I’m on level 69. According to the graphs that should be equal to level 94, or am I missing something?
You’re missing the bug I mention above, which is not showing the accelerated leveling indicators for your current level. They’ll come back once Zwift fixes it… or you level up.
Let’s hope Zwift fixes it. On iOS my 2 arrow Level Transitioning indicator disappeared. Yesterday I leveled up and it still does not show them 😪 also the discount of 20% XP required to level up is gone, it shows the full amount required for the next level. I am definitely nowhere near to where the discount should have worked to.
Huh heh huh huh. He said “69”.
Just glad my trainer didn’t catch fire when I was riding through 13. Guess that will have to wait until there’s a 666. Wondering what the intrinsic meaning for 100 is.
Looking forwards to when I’m experienced enough for 69.
(^_^)
I know the veterans (I am at lvl 82) don’t want to hear that BUT: Reset everyone to Level 1 and integrate an endless Leveling with exponential level curve. This will be rewarding, challanging and those who cry about “loosing” their virtual figurehead… you guys never played an online game…
I’m unaffected by this as I’m not in this demographic. New race scoring looks a lot better though.
Leave it the way it is and add a “prestige” system like old cod games (maybe new ones, who knows) had. You can reset to lvl zero if you reach 100 but you get a badge that shows how many times you’ve reached 100. And obviously you should need more xp for later levels. Linear would be boring as all hell.
This is definitely a path Zwift is considering. I think it would be great.
A Star for every time you reach level 100 in your profile and a special kit with stripes or stars and add one every time you get to 100.
So there’s now a possibility that someone’s level is too high for their XP. Will they get decelerated levelling? Or just stay below the curve with the baseline XP per level requirement?
I don’t understand why anyone cares about leveling up or points. I have only ever looked at Zwift as a training tool.
Interesting. Do you want to learn about others different from yourself or just keep to yourself then?
Level 68 here and since I unlocked tron about 2years ago am still waiting for more challenges to appear as carrots, how hard can it be to simply add a few in for XP incentive like (ride round the earth or ride to the moon or anything)
Okay. I’m at level 99 and will hit 100 very soon. Here’s the thing: I still don’t understand why people care so much about it. It’s nice to unlock the jerseys, etc, but most are kind of goofy. I probably wear them once and that’s it. The best unlocks were all at the early levels. So, beyond a certain point (35?), it isn’t as exciting. Am I missing or forgetting something?
Because for some people, if there is a top level, then that is equivalent to them of someone planting a flag somewhere on a mountain and saying “can you climb up this high?” and they want to climb as high as that flag as a personal challenge.
Because once I hit 100 I’ve completed the game and can finally go outside and ride my bike there. /s
once you reach a certain point, levels are pointless. I don’t even pay attention to them anymore (I’m at 93 I think?)
Wow getting upset with a game and how it levels up. First world problems or what. I remember just riding my bike outside no computers, or power meters, just how fast I got from A to B. If I could be bothered. All I had to worry about was punctures. I sometimes wonder how many cyclists there would be if we had no tech. Half as many I would guess.
Wow getting upset because other people care about something. First world problems or what. I remember just riding my bike outside and not complaining about how other people enjoy themselves. I sometimes wonder how many cyclists there would be if I didn’t criticize other people. Double as many I would guess.
Levelling up is important for new Zwifters as it allows riders access to buying better frames and wheels using the drops they have accumulated. Once you have those levelling up isn’t really a target or goal of mine, it just happens the more I ride and more socks or hats doesn’t really bother me.
agree levelling up should be a infinite system.
The catch up mechanic has been terrible if you didn’t re-cap at level 60 before they added 100. I’m at 890K rider score and still only level 84. It’s been a slow grind to 100 since I only have level discounts and ran out of double XP a long time ago. I’ve got over 80K more XP than what level 100 takes, but I probably will need 1 million total before I actually get there.
Zwift brain trust needs to get off their high horse. Keep moving the goal posts to get to 100? Folks will go elsewhere. Feel like we won’t, because Zwift is the best game in town? That’s called arrogance, born of complacency and early commercial success. The commercial landscape is littered with organizations that enjoyed early success and then stopped listening to their customer base. Don’t be one of them. Wake up. Listen. Respond. Be transparent.
I just got finished updating my Zwift tracking spreadsheet with the values from the 07/16/2024 level curve. I’m now going need over a million XP points to make it to level 100. Not that I was expecting to get there this year or in the next 3 years… Once again the goalposts got moved again because of a very poor and IMHO hasty decision by Zwift management to fix the previous “too easy and too fast” XP curve. I was at level 73 when the change got snuck in, and I just made it 74 this evening, the XP value I needed for that was on the previous system. The accelerated leveling under the previous one was good enough to get me to level 99, under the new system I got ‘shafted’ by 5 levels, now it only goes up to level 94.
I agree with Eric S.’s solution to this whole issue with a simplified level system that goes out to infinity, and for those like me with accelerated leveling, give us the choice of either 1) putting us at the level we should be at with the current amount of earned XP, or 2) let us select the level we would like to start at between the current level and 100, and convert the leftover XP into drop points or better yet, use the excess XP to let us purchase a (limited) amount of powerups on the fly.
Can you please explain this please:
The graph shows that I need 807,000XP to get to level 100
I’m on level 93 and have a score of 907,288 [100,288 more than required] and why is the acceleration showing for 92 >> 93 [which has gone]. The only correlation I can see is that increased XP is proportional to increased monthly charges. Is there any logic to this ?
Best Regards
Paul Churchill
I love xp mining, its kinda fun, but
1) I don’t mind leveling out.
2) I don’t mind how complicated it may seem.