FIX CACTUS MINES!!!!!!!

I was wondering whether the disappearing mines were intentional or by-design. I wanted to open a thread in the bugs section to ask that since EA staff are more active there than here.

As for the mines, they are fine the way this way. They mainly have 3 purposes:

1. Catch enemies off-guard. You can place it around corners and they'll most likely eat it. It works like charm most of the time. Placing them in the middle of nowhere usually gets them killed. I see many people place them in the middle or place 4 on the ground obviously.  You can also distract enemies intentionally by shooting them and running away. It works sometimes.
2. Defending you while sniping. You can place them around entrances to places that could lead to you. Even if they found them, they'd be shooting them and that should alert you. It's better than having someone suddenly sneaking on you and finishing you with one punch.
3. Distraction. It can work as a distraction, as some zombies might look down and shoot them. Meanwhile, you can either escape or engage in that fight.

With the "revealing enemies' health bars to allies" upgrade, mines become super powerful if you placed them near objectives. It will keep their names displayed all the time if they got close to its proximity. This can help your team finish targets and know who's behind cover. I rarely see anybody use them this way even though it's fun lol.

If the mines weren't obvious to a certain degree, they'd be annoying especially if there were many Cactus players. Spike weeds are obvious mostly because they're big enough to spot (I know I'm contradicting what you're saying, but I do think they're easier to spot due to their size). I think they might've added it because of an upgrade called "Popcorn". It randomly spawns potato mines whenever you get a max charged shot vanquish. If the mine was too hard to detect, it would be an annoying mechanic to just die suddenly since mines have high damage.

Can I also see you try to defend the bird vs garlic? Stop being a fanboy. On top of all the awful things we've been served for $40 including freezing every 10 minutes, even simple character balancing are entirely absent.

1. No, don't tell me how I "now" have to use the mines in specific purposes when I've been using them in every scenario in Gw1 and Gw2.
2. You proved my point that the only way to get a kill is to put the mines around corners where they detonate *before* enemies can see them. Meaning, seeing them makes them redundant which begs the question why are they so obvious now. Thank you for highlighting the flaw that is the glaring red flashing light which negates their entire purpose. They're also useless in "Defending you while sniping" since people can easily see them whereas the barrel can one shot anyone in defense.
3. Distraction, no. People can move 1mm to the side and avoid them.
4. I should not have to use upgrades to make the only attack ability this character has even remotely viable. I assure you, everyone loves walking to the choke points and putting mines down and walking back, then sniping the enemy around them just so the health bar can be displayed to teammates and get assists.

Meanwhile Spikeweeds are far less obvious because most maps have grass and they blend in perfectly ....JUST AS MINES DID IN PREVIOUS GAMES. Furthermore, spike weeds, if you've been paying attention, has a much wider rage of activation, you can literally put spike weeds next to the walls in choke points and enemies will walk past them only to be grabbed by spikeweeds and pulled in. mines have a much smaller area of activation and are far more obvious.

You know what is an annoying mechanic though? Barrel every few seconds that can decimate an objective and get multikill and a one shot kill bird. But thanks for the useless obvious mines wouldn't wanna catch anyone off guard. Oh lets also make the cactus flight completely as useless and buggy and short distance and low height and horrible escape ability etc....

@5ee5potKill 

"Can I also see you try to defend the bird vs garlic? Stop being a fanboy. On top of all the awful things we've been served for $40 including freezing every 10 minutes, even simple character balancing are entirely absent."

Fanboy of what exactly? My reply had no mentioned of Deadbeard or other characters. It's just merely me looking at the bigger picture of things and trying to make it fair to all players while explaining why I think they made it this way.

But hey, I get it... You assume that because I tried to defend the design behind it that I'm Deadbeard fanboy in your head. I never said that or implied that. Those Red Flashing had been implemented for a reason.

"1. No, don't tell me how I "now" have to use the mines in specific purposes"

No, I haven't told you do anything, really. I just expressed my opinion towards the topic only.

"You proved my point that the only way to get a kill is to put the mines around corners "

Even if you put them in the middle of nowhere without the flashing reds, players who died or seen others die from mines previously will always pay attention and destroy them, regardless. Hence why placing them around corners is one of the most optimal ways to deploy them. People who don't pay attention will often fall to it. It seems like you've been to games where others destroy them easily. After playing many games, I automatically associate seeing a cactus to seeing drones and having mines around and most players place them in obvious locations easy to spot.

"Defending you while sniping" since people can easily see them whereas the barrel can one shot anyone in defense."

Defending you = as I mentioned, if enemies had to shoot them, you'll hear them. Heroes like Super Brainz will get damaged if they jumped towards you while those mines are around and this is the hero you want to keep away, mostly since you can't win in close-quarters. You can also fight around them to lure enemies towards them.

I'm not comparing Cactus vs Deadbeard. This is an asymmetrical game where each character on both teams aren't equal to each other.

"I should not have to use upgrades to make the only attack ability this character has even remotely viable. I assure you, everyone loves walking to the choke points and putting mines down and walking back, then sniping the enemy around them just so the health bar can be displayed to teammates and get assists."

You can do that in Loggy Acres, for example, before the attacking team arrives. You don't have to go to chock points while the enemies are there, you know. This game is all about teamwork and everything you do to assist your teammates contributes to winning. Displaying enemies' health bars eases that process for everyone.

Also, why so serious? Cactus and snipers in general are viable and useful for their main weapon, mostly. Everything else is like a cherry on top.

* Edit: Added horizontal lines to improve readability.

I haven’t played Cactus much in either GW or BFN, but I’ve stepped on my fair share of potato mines, and I haven’t found that the red light makes much difference. Perhaps I’m simply unobservant, but I still step on them :P

I swear, some of those mines are invisible! Just today I vanquished a retreating cactus, then stopped to shoot the 3 mines it had dropped. I visually verified they were gone, stepped forward and BOOM!

As for moving 1 inch to the side to avoid them, I wish only an inch were required. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have intentionally side stepped a mine only to be taken out anyway.

So for what it’s worth I think potato mines are still plenty deadly.

Comparing how camouflaged the spikeweed and potato mines are isn’t very fair. Spikweed is not a  OHKO ability.

Yeah by the sounds of this you want to be able to just place invisible mines where ever you want that oneshot people. How can you not see how silly that is???? The tiny red light is almost barely noticeable during fights. Usually zombies are focusing on shooting the plants not looking for potato mines. They were definitely not invisible in previous games thats a straight-up lie. You're overexaggerating how visible these mines actually are. If you've played cactus you would be surprised how frequently players will actually step on one. It's all about where you put them. Chomper vines are MUCH easier to see, as they take up a slightly larger area when placed and legit wave their vines in the air as if they're waving at someone. Obviously, if you are saying zombies are spotting your mines from ACROSS THE MAP, you are placing them out in the open. Them having the lights is the only counterplay for zombies that are actively searching for potato mine blood. Potato mines are already buried into the ground and are the size of footballs. Removing the flashing light is the same as making it invisible. There's no chance anyone would spot them. Spikeweeds are excused because of how big and noticeable they are. Potato mine are TINY. Thats like saying "remove the chilli bean bombs flashing lights and screeching because every time I throw one down they walk away". Try learn the character before you judge its kit :P


But deadbeards bird is just a better version of garlic drone thats true