There's...nothing wrong with changing how people earn XP in DW. There are numerous rules options out there which do exactly that, e.g. altering Bonds (something I myself have done), or altering the specifics of the End of Session move.
As an example, when I do the End of Session move, my questions are as follows:
Did we learn something new and important about the world?
Did we overcome a notable monster, enemy, or obstacle?
Did we loot a memorable treasure or form a meaningful alliance?
Changes underlined. First question has not needed any changes, learning is a regular but not guaranteed occurrence and I haven't seen any need to alter it. Second question, we don't always fight enemies, but we do often have sessions that are about figuring out a way around some kind of significant obstacle or impediment, or resolving a major conflict, or otherwise doing something that isn't about overcoming a person or monster. Part of that is I wanted intrigue to matter a lot in this game, but part of it is that my players in general just prefer to resolve things peacefully when they can, or like helping people who aren't enemies but do have conflicts that need resolving. Third question, again, this is about the intrigue stuff--oftentimes, the most valuable thing in a heavily mercantile Arabian Nights inspired setting is not what you own, but who you know.
Hence why I actually quoted the text of the books where it discusses what changing the rules may do to the game, and why it is unwise to do so without forethought, care, and (in most cases) testing. I've been lucky in that the stuff I started with was already pretty good, that is, testing did not end up requiring much in the way of changes. Most of the time, when I need to change something, it's because I was either not generous enough or (more commonly) too generous to the players with a new magic item or class feature, and need to tweak it to fit, boosting it or pulling it back just a little.
