Gameplay discussion: vampires

Vampire Flower is my favorite Sunflower (it was Alien Flower in GW). She also on some reloads does a little 'buwahahaha!' which makes her even more adorable (I love Sunflowers). They called her 'goth blossom' in the GW2 beta trailer. Quick aside; notice that they used to have so many videos for the GW games that we got a beta trailer? I'll link it here too as it's excellent! She's a joy to play and thanks to the days when we did boss hunts a lot, I used her and Stuffy a ton plant side so we'd always had at least 1 healer for sure.

Count Chompula is one of the Chompers I play more often than most. That spooky organ music when he swallows a zombie is a nice touch and one reason why I've always liked variants, even if I was more open to brand new characters than some are. Such a great character in many ways, even if I feel Chomper needs some changes for a new game (like the ability to not chomp zombies when you just want to bite).

Both of these characters are the only ones in GW2 where I use the health upgrade as they have below average health and stealing it is even better when you increase your health pool.

I use Vampweed in GW2 a lot as it's handy to leave in strategic spots and get healed when you need it, which as a melee character, is quite often. It's visual distinct from the regular spikeweed and the spiky spikeweed, which as you point out, is a problem with BfN's spikeweed, although BfN's spikeweed has a lot of problems.

It is odd that we have no vampiric zombies in the shooters, especially since we have Baron Von Bats and the vampire zombies that come with him in the GW games and we can summon in GW. It would be cool if they'd use Immorticia from heroes as a basis for a new class/variant in the next shooter!

Vampiric in BfN is too general and the lack of visual representation is a massive letdown. Some abilities like that combat aura one for support classes do have a visual appearance, but then this ability doesn't and even with spikeweed 'double dipping' with the vampiric upgrade, it's still just not a great ability in BfN, even with the ability to launch it.

@Iron_Guard8Both gw games had a ton of trailers on gameplay and dev commentary which were pretty nice to look at like the gw1 pc trailer.

My favorite is probably the gw1 zombie reveal and the one that starts out as a spoof of a gritty war game.

Than you look at bfn and there's just nothing besides the trailer from founders that was used as advertising which was reused as the launch trailer. Even Bfn's cinematic intro in game is just the freaking trailer we've seen before. It also doesn't really show any gameplay that a lot of other trailers did alongside the cinematic ones.

The back chomp rework would do so much for chomper.

Chompula is one of my favorites but I've really come to love the gw2 version of chomp thing since his regen can be so powerful to the point he can be a flanking bullet sponge.

The bfn upgrades system lacking visual and audio cues alonside having no weaknesses/downsides to using them is one of its biggest flaws that no one really brings up that variants did infinetly better.

I really don't get why the bfn spikeweed does a whopping 100 damage for no valid reason. The 50-70 damage that could actually blend into the artstyle was a much better system. It's like they expected you to never play imp and always be overhealed.

@stukapooka BfN's spikeweed is just weird. It's cool that it got the ability to launch it which is a nice idea to surprise the zombies, but it's hard to aim well and often lands out in the open when you do that, even if aimed at a less obvious spot. And while we're at it how often do you get caught by it in BfN? It is so easy to destroy in BfN that you can do so without paying any attention to it, whereas in GW and GW2, it took some effort. If they want to change it up a bit, that's fine, but it's extra damage in BfN just isn't worth it as I almost never get caught in it, or see a non-AI zombie get caught in it. I will always prefer the GW version even over GW2 (the instant arming is too easy to cheese in GW2), both in function, animation, and arming delay.

Also, the GW and GW2 trailers are great fun, although the Patrick Stewart BfN trailer was good too, but the live action ones were brilliant:

We really need this level of fun and attention back!

@Iron_Guard8The one with the guy equipping the dolphin gun is a classic.

There was also the zombox trailer and i would gladly listen to that Dr zomboss voice for hours as an announcer.

The small detail of the light turning red when it goes off is something I wish happened in game as it would keep them stealthy for night levels but also add the detail in.

The insane amount of effort and combo of live action gameplay in the gw1 trailers makes the bfn ones outside of patrick stewart seem ridicoulsy under budget.

Gw1 spikeweed was the best. The map color scheme hid it well and the animation was unique with the damage being fair. It didn't have the unfair arm time of gw2.

I never really fall into Bfn spikeweeds but when i do when im not paying attention it feels cheap to just be slapped with 100 damage. Sometimes the projectile version also screws up when in trying to specifically put it down in front of me.

Ah yes, this one:

The vampire characters are fun to play around with, and they can be greatly useful as well because if your team does not have a healer, you have a way to heal yourself without the need of someone else healing you or to wait on natural regeneration. The vampire effect, or life leech, can save you if you would be vanquished to otherwise fatal toxic or fire damage. 

It seems like in most situations, apart from when you use the vampire based upgrades in Battle for Neighborville, the vampire characters have less maximum health compared to their default variant counterparts. I am satisfied with this change as it actually makes the character weaker in terms of how well they can tank attacks, and they can be vanquished easily when under constant fire, so you have to be more careful with your approach. This change makes the healing less effective than it could have been, but this is fine to me as well. An alternative option I would have suggested is to reduce the damage of these variants, although the reduced health instead might be more effective.

Vampire Flower: Has 85 health (instead of default 110). Her attack deals less damage than normal and has a reduced amount of maximum ammo. Every time you successfully deal damage to an enemy, you will heal 3 health, regardless of the actual damage that you deal. If you equip the Vampire upgrade, which is unique to Vampire Flower and no other character gets this upgrade, you will heal 4 health instead. I recommend this upgrade by all counts! You could use a Dark Flower with the Vampire Flower as you do not need healing as much, and be mindful that Sunbeam damage will not heal you.

Count Chompula: Has 150 health (instead of default 175). His Chomp attack is exactly the same compared to the regular Chomper, however if you successfully eat and digest a zombie, you will gain 50 health. You should be mindful of this, as you should try to eat zombies, but you will be vulnerable during this time and you could be vanquished before you even trigger this healing. If you survive and have taken damage, you may heal back up to full health, or at least heal 50 so keep in mind about your reduced health and enjoy your healing!

Basic Notes

• Use the Health upgrade to somewhat remove the reduced health of your vampire characters. This will improve your potential healing output as well as you will be able to heal more.
• Use the Vampire upgrade on Vampire Flower to improve your healing, or the Digestion upgrade on Count Chompula to digest enemies faster for quicker healing.
• You will heal regardless of the damage you deal to enemies, so you could attack from long range to reduce damage dealt to you at long range while still being able to heal efficiently.
• You need to be careful of attacks and abilities that deal high damage, as an attack or ability that would not normally vanquish you in a single hit may vanquish you in a single hit now, due to less health.
• You may want to strafe and move around constantly to prevent being hit by some enemy attacks, you may even be able to heal faster than you are taking damage this way.

Additional Vampire Effects

• Vampweed Ability (Garden Warfare 2 only, only for Chomper): This is an alternate ability. If an enemy steps on your Vampweed, you will gain 40 health (instead of dealing 50 damage to that enemy). You will still be able to eat enemies caught in the Vampweed, and you could try pairing this with Count Chompula.
• Vampiric Upgrade (Battle for Neighborville only): Only attack characters can equip this upgrade. You will heal 10 health when you vanquish an enemy over the course of a few seconds. Shared vanquishes do count for this upgrade. You can gain overhealth this way. It costs 3 upgrade points to use.
• Low Life Upgrade (Battle for Neighborville only): Only attack characters can equip this upgrade. When you are at 20% health or lower, you will heal 30 health when you vanquish an enemy over the course of a few seconds. Shared vanquishes do count for this upgrade. It costs 2 upgrade points to use.
• Vampire Flower Upgrade (Battle for Neighborville only, only for Sunflower): When you deal damage to an enemy with your Sun Pulse or Sunbeam, you will gain health. This upgrade works in a very similar way to Vampire Flower in Garden Warfare 2. It costs 3 upgrade points to use.
• Vampire Spikeweed (Battle for Neighborville only, only for Chomper): When an enemy gets trapped by your Spikeweed or an enemy destroys your Spikeweed, you will gain health. You can gain overhealth this way. It costs 1 upgrade point to use.

So, vampire characters and additional ways of receiving health, including when in a pinch, can be fun to play with.