I think communities are an awesome feature, but there is a lot left to be desired in its current state, and making the appropriate changes would make players enjoy the game more.

Size of Communities

Currently, communities can only maintain 15 people. In the Seedling Build, this was 24. In its current state, communities don't feel like a "community", but a small group. The amount of players should be nearly tripled to around 50, so it can feel like a truly active space. I have many viewers that want to join my community, but can't due to how limited space is.

In response to this change, the Neighborville Watch can be made harder. If it was left untouched, people could get to the end within a day. Speaking of the Neighborville Watch...

Neighborville Watch

The Neighborville Watch is really boring, when it could be more engaging. The concept of working together for rewards is an awesome goal, but it really falls flat once the ball gets going.

1. Too much fluff

The Neighborville Watch suffers from a lot of padding, such as worthless boosts (I haven't found a single person that actively uses them), and lawn decorations. I wouldn't mind these if there were small rewards that went alongside it. Maybe EVERY reward no matter what includes a small bonus of Coins and Plant XP?

More frequent rewards (even if they are small) could help maintain retention instead of huge gaps with undesirable boosts/decor.

2. Once and never again

As this service continues to grow and players continue playing, we will have better plants and any challenge to fill the Neighborville Watch will gradually fade away. Already, my community has finished days in advance before it refreshes, and this has resulted in players putting down the game for days.

PvZ 3 in its current state doesn't have much to do outside of working together for one meter.

I suggest that the Neighborville Watch can be filled multiple times, with the rewards multiplying per completion. Or maybe its a new meter with even rarer rewards, encouraging players to spend more time with their community?

 This way, there is always something to do in-game instead of waiting for it to reset every week.

Kinda meaningless gifts...

Sharing gifts is a good feeling, but PvZ 3 does it in the most unsatisfying way...

It is incredibly easy to get Zen Garden tools, and feels like it WAS only added so you can give them to other people. There's so many tools in circulation, the chance you will run out is almost non-existent. Being able to share something else - like Seed Packets, would be much more encouraging. In fact, this used to be a feature present in the 2020 soft-launch.

The game right now has some very rough progression, and I think this feature could help with fixing that! Additionally, being able to create a pool of resources people can donate to, and take from, would be very useful.

If this is added, the community leader should be able to set some rules before you can take donations, such as:

• "X active play hours required"
• "X points contributed to Neighborville Watch required"
• "X level completed required"

Communication is needed

Communities need to have a chat system. What if someone needs a tool / seed packets, and couldn't express it? People could go to other third party platforms like Discord to solve this issue, but you could solve it yourself by adding a chat.

2020 PvZ 3 had a chat feature in its clubs, and it worked fine.

Benefits

By implementing these changes, you're making a stronger and memorable connection with your players.

• People are encouraged to play and help each other out more
• Everyone still has a common goal with better rewards and never feels like they have nothing to do / can't help
• Players can communicate, strategize, and share tips / feedback
• Improved player retention with a new mechanic PvZ has never had before