Found myself back with plants vs zombie 1

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@LittleSeamus wrote:

@dabjhn@, I've had the same experience with GW2 so far - and have been resisting the urge to go back and play GW1. As @EA_Andy states, there's an adjustment period that we all need to work through. He's right, and it's a pain. But, I know that I'll get used to it and enjoy GW2 once I have some more hours under my belt. Given the immense amount of fun I've had playing GW1 over the past year, I see this as a worthwhile investment.

That said, the more I play GW2, the less confident I am that it's ultimately going to be as good as GW1. At least not for me (though I'm also probably not EA's target demographic). I recognize that the game isn't even two weeks old yet, and that there are plenty of updates to come. I've read (parts of) the Rose thread, and the consolidated list of beta suggestions, and understand that the game will be refined over time. My concern is that the fundamental changes that differentiate GW2 from GW1 seem to be a step in the wrong direction (again, at least for me).

I'll spare everyone from having to read my personal list of pet peeves, and summarize by saying that I find GW2 unnecessarily complicated. A few examples:

• There's 14 characters. It sounds like most folks enjoy the extra diversity, but I find it a chore. It took me a long time to gain an intuitive understanding of the subtleties of the original 8 characters - not to mention their myriad variants, which I'm still learning. I'm not saying that the new characters are bad,  just that 14 is too many.
• The saturated colors and copious special effects make it difficult to see what's going on. During the beta, I chalked this up to my being unfamiliar with the new maps and graphics. Unfortunately, more play time hasn't mitigated the issue. It's like driving in the rain with no windshield wipers.
• The maps... I'm not sure yet. At a macro scale, I love the new maps. They're expansive, and clever, and I enjoy each one more the more that I play it. At the same time, they seem cluttered with extraneous obstacles. There's probably a tactical reason for this that more serious gamers will understand/appreciate, but it's too much for me.

Ultimately, GW2 multiplayer feels to me more like Halo 5 Warzone than like GW1. GW2 multiplayer is just mayhem - and not the good "let's all toss some chili bean bombs and have some fun" mayhem, but the "why did I just die, and how can I learn from this experience when I have no idea what's going on around me" mayhem.

IMHO, the relative simplicity of GW1 is part of its magic. People still play go, and backgammon, and mancala after centuries / millennia because their beguiling simplicity belies the depth of strategy and skill required to win. To me, GW1 struck that same balance, whereas GW2 obscures it with a veneer of superfluous "upgrades".

Knowing what I know at this point, given the choice between paying $60 for GW2 or paying the same $60 for a big new map pack for GW1, I'd pick the latter. In fairness to EA / PopCap, though, I suspect that most prospective customers would demand "more" for their money. They're in the same position as any consumer tech company, in that they need to continually change their product offering, lest we feel that they've stagnated and move on to a competitor. Sometimes that change represents progress, and sometimes just change for change's sake (think iPhone 5 > 6, Windows 7 > 8, etc.). Time will tell with GW2.

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agreed. and those are the same issues I find as well.

Another one for me is I feel the lore is dirtied by the whole time travel thing. It's not that it's bad, But it feels unnecessary to the gameplay and off topic from the plot. PVZ is about zombies that want our brains and the crazy botanist that protects us. people could expect a stalemate. But time travel just kind of came out of nowhere. But I feel I'm alone on this. 

I feel GW2 still has the core of GW1. but they will need to slow down the game and make the roles easier to see. for the time being though I too am back in GW1

I agree with a lot of what is being said here. Especially the great post by @LittleSeamus.This game feels cluttered and busy to me  in a bad way compared to the first game. I have been enjoying exploring the backyard, the character quests have been fun, love Garden Ops in the new game, and the new maps have been fun to explore in private matches, but I don't find the multiplayer modes fun to play. I love Gardens and Graveyards and Taco Bandit in the first game. They are a lot of fun.

This game just feels too chaotic to be as much fun as the first game. It can be really hard to see what is going on, and there seems to be more of everything happening. In all the chaos and fast action of the multiplayer modes there doesn't seem to be much time for the fun, whimsy, and charm that made the first game great.

I agree with @LittleSeamus.  Spot on.

GW1 was my go to game if i had 30 mins or more spare and wanted to play a shooting game.  I could play G&G for hours at a time if i had nothing in the real world to do 🙂

Sadly GW2 is not going to take it's place as it just isn't fun, unless you find racing to unload your special abilities before you die fun.

personally i am gutted as i really wanted this game to be better than GW1.  In every way but one is it better and the one way it isn't is the most important and that is Turn Takeover or G&G as it was in GW1 was FUN and in GW2 it isn't.