My vision for Garden Warfare 3, if it's ever released

Continued from part one

 

Topic #3 - Changes and mentions for the elemental characters listed

 

Fire Characters ignite enemies, dealing fire damage-overtime.

Ice/Frozen Characters can slow, and eventually freeze enemies in place.

Toxic Characters primary weapons can deal toxic damage-overtime. All Toxic Characters produce Toxic Aura that can also damage enemies.

Electro/Power Characters can cause electrifying damage, arcing across multiple enemies.

Jinx type Characters are only able to Jinx their enemies with a charged-up shot. (Enemy targets take more damage when jinxed by a charged-up shot)

Sonar Characters can view their enemies from behind walls or any other obstacle. (The enemy target still needs to be tagged by the primary weapon of any Sonar character)

Plasma Characters can cause extra damage-overtime thanks to the reworked Plasma damage. Enemies hit by any Plasma Character's primary weapon will be left with plasma particles stuck to them for only a few seconds; in that time, they'll take more damage.

Commando Characters are automatic-based characters whose primary weapons always rapid-fire.

Camo Characters always have a drastically increased zoom, able to view enemies from further away.

Armor Characters have less movement speed, but have much higher health to compensate.

Vampire Characters can regain their health by doing direct damage to enemies; the damage done is converted back to useful health. Because of their Vampiric Nature, they have less health versus all other characters. (Count Chompula can regain some of his health by swallowing enemies)

Some characters in the game can detonate their shots in mid-air, simply by pressing the fire button in mid-air.

Some character's weapons can penetrate multiple enemies.

Legendary characters always have a Legendary Meter that can be engaged by defeating a certain number of enemies.

Topic #4 - Changes and mentions for the classes listed

 

The Peashooter class will remain largely the same as in previous Garden Warfare installments, with some exceptions:

1. Plasma Pea's weapon charge-up ability has been dropped.

2. Law Pea and Agent Pea are absent in GW3.

Camo Pea is the Legendary character of the class; he has an even further zoom, more movement speed and does more damage in his Camouflage Mode.

The Chomper class will get a major upgrade that will make them finally able to defeat enemies at mid- to long-range thank to blaster weapons only used when zooming in.

Yeti Chomper's Arctic Belch has been replaced with an icy spray.

Hot Rod Chomper, Chomp Thing, Disco Chomper and the "GW1 Rank 313 Exclusive" Unicorn Chomper are absent in GW3.

Plasma Chomper is the Legendary character of the class; he does more plasmic damage and moves faster in his Plasma Overload.

The Sunflower class will remain largely the same as in previous installments, but Shadow Flower, Mystic Flower, Sun Pharaoh, Alien Flower and Stuffy Flower are absent in GW3.

Arctic Flower is the Legendary character of the class; her freeze effect is two times more effective, she has faster movement speed and does more damage in her Arctic Mode.

The Cactus class will get an upgrade that'll finally make them able to defeat enemies up close thank to their new close-range weapons. For example, the standard Cactus will shoot out a Spike Scatter, the Camo Cactus will shoot out a slow-firing, but mighty powerful Camo Scatter, Petrified Cactus will shoot out a Egg Scatter etc., all while maintaining their long-range weapons when zoomed. Many Cacti's close-range shots will use up twice the ammunition.

Future Cactus, Bandit Cactus, Zen Cactus and Jade Cactus are absent in GW3.

Sonar Cactus is the Legendary character for the class; she causes a larger sonar blast radius that hits all affected enemies (in turn, can see those affected enemies from behind walls or any other obstacle), has more movement speed, and does more damage in her Extra Sonar Mode.

The Citron class will remain largely the same as in GW2, but Party Citron is absent in GW3.

Iron Citron will remain as the Legendary character for the class; he has five times more ammunition, and moves faster in his Iron Mode.

The Rose class will remain largely the same as in GW2, with a few exceptions:

1. Druid Rose - as seen in GW2 - has spent some much needed time in redoing her approach to damaging enemies, resulting in her ability to now produce toxic aura. This warrants a namechange from Druid Rose to Toxic Rose.

2. Fire Rose and Frost Rose will lose their primary weapon charge-up abilities respectively.

3. Party Rose is absent in GW3.

Vampire Rose is the Legendary character for the class; she moves faster, and she is able to get back two times more health from landing direct hits at enemies during her Vampiric Mode.

The Corn class will remain largely the same as in GW2, but Mob Cob, Pops Corn and Party Corn are absent in GW3.

Commando Corn will remain as the Legendary character for the class; his primary weapon ammunition has a two and a half times increase, and moves faster when going Full Commando.

The new Tree class will be boasted by Torchwood's experience found in GW2.

Melee Tree characters can do huge damage up close with their powerful clubs as their primary weapon.

Ranged Tree characters can suppress enemy targets from a distance with their Wood-Chipper as their primary weapon.

Fire Stump is the Legendary character for the class; he is able to cause wider damage from his Fire-Club, he moves faster, and his fire damage-overtime is greater in his superheated Fire Overload.

The Soldier class will remain largely the same as in previous installments, but Tank Commander, General Supremo, Sky Trooper and Park Ranger are absent in GW3.

Armor Trooper is the Legendary character for the class; he can do more damage and move faster in his Armor Mode.

The Engineer class will get an upgrade that'll make their weapons reach one and a half to two times further than before, applied to most engineer variants.

Mechanic, Painter, Plumber, Landscaper and Roadie Z are absent in GW3.

The Submarine Engineer is the Legendary character for the class; his weapon's projectiles have a larger blast radius that hits all enemies (in turn, can see those affected enemies from behind walls or any other obstacle), has more movement speed, and does more damage in his Submarine Sonar Mode.

The Scientist class will remain largely the same as in previous installments, but Marine Biologist, Astronaut, Chemist, Archaeologist, Zoologist and Computer Scientist are absent in GW3.

The Arctic Scientist is the Legendary character for the class; his primary weapon can freeze enemies two times faster, can do more damage, and move faster in his Arctic Mode.

The All-Star class will remain largely the same as in previous installments, but Baseball Star, Hockey Star, Rugby Star, Wrestling Star, Golf Star, Moto-X Star and Tennis Star are absent in GW3.

The Power Star is the Legendary character for the class; his primary weapon arc shots can reach further away from the targeted enemy, he does more damage, and moves faster in his Electro Mode.

The Pirate class will remain largely the same as in GW2, but Captain Cannon, Captain Sharkbite and Captain Partyman are absent in GW3.

Captain Camouflage is the Legendary character for the class; he has a drastically increased zoom, does more damage, fires more accurately, and moves faster in his Camouflage Mode.

The Imp class will lose the ability to call in a Z-Mech, as the damage caused to suburbia due to the tiny rip of the space-time continuum meant the Gnomes have closed the time portals. The ability to call in a Z-Mech is instead replaced with the Acrobatic High Jump ability, enabling the Imps to jump higher with each repeated press of the jump button, up to five times.

Pylon Imp, S.H.R.Imp, "GW2 Deluxe Edition/Pre-Order Exclusive" Grass Effect Z7 Imp, Party Imp and Scallywag Imp are absent in GW3.

Vampire Tyke is the Legendary character for the class; he moves faster, and he is able to get back two times more health from landing direct hits at enemies during his Vampire Mode.

The Superhero class will remain largely the same as in GW2, but Cozmic Brainz, Party Brainz and Breakfast Brainz are absent in GW3.

Toxic Brainz will remain as the Legendary character for the class; he does three times more damage, and moves faster in his rather short-durable Toxic Overload.

The new Hover-Goat class will be bolstered from Hover-Goat 3000's experience from GW2.

The Fire Goat is the Legendary character for the class, his heated shots deal more fire damage-overtime, and he moves faster in his Fire Mode.

Topic #5 - The Graphics

 

The graphics will get an upgrade that'll give players more choice on how they like to play in different areas of the game.

The Daytime-Nighttime transistion will be introduced in more finer, realistic detail. The time of day can be adjusted, as well as how fast time passes, to a maximum of 60 times faster than real-time, echoing the recent Gran Turismo Racing series entries - a first for the Plants vs Zombies series - in addition to the cartoony-like graphics first seen in GW1 and GW2. The weather system will also be employed: rain, thunder, lightning, snow, wind etc., each having an individual effect on both sides. The character classes will receive minor graphical upgrades to better reflect this new change.

Topic #6 - The Rank-up System

 

The rank-up system has been changed, no longer focused on individual character rank ups, and instead goes back to individual class rank-ups to reduce the monotony. You no longer have to level up an individual character like you would in GW2; only the individual classes in GW3 can be leveled up. Players will start at rank zero, but can increase their rank by leveling up classes. Each Class starts at Unranked (or zero), but if you gain enough XP for that class, the class will level up to a new rank. Each class rank can be increased, up to 25 times. Since there is 16 plant and zombie classes in GW2, the highest rank in the game is 400.

There's no online ranking system in GW3's online mode, with less emphasis on exclusives.

Topic #7 - Character performance balancing system - Very In-Depth

 

The character performance system has been completely changed to better reflect the offline and online aspects of GW3. Instead of individual Character Upgrades in GW2, GW3 will introduce a performance slider feature, similar to the one used in 2005's Need For Speed: Most Wanted, but with a twist involved.

You can adjust the performance of an individual plant or zombie in these areas:

Health Regeneration Delay, Health Regeneration, Zoom, Speed, Reload/Overheat penalty, Ammunition/Overheat, Damage/Elemental Damage and Character Health are the most common areas that can be adjusted to one's desired spec.

Three different meters are displayed in the performance slider feature: "Balanced", "Underbalanced" and "Overbalanced". Any one of the Balance meters can light up by doing the following:

1. If the balance settings are adjusted too much to the right, the "Overpowered" meter will flash, asking you to readjust the other areas to a lower setting to balance it.

2. If the balance settings are adjusted too much to the left, the "Underpowered" meter will flash, asking you to readjust the other areas to a higher setting to balance it.

3. If the balance settings are adjusted in the middle, the "Balanced" meter will light up, telling you that the settings are now balanced out properly. You can only continue to play that character once the "Balanced" meter is lit up.

Moving the slider to the left reduces the effectiveness of that ability, while moving it to the right will increase the effectiveness of that ability. The effect of these abilities can be reduced down to 40% less effective for lowest setting, and up to 40% more effective for highest setting. Here's how it affects the various abilities:

Health Regeneration Delay: moving the slider to the left will increase the delay, while moving it to the right will decrease the delay.

Zoom: moving the slider to the left will reduce the zoom magnification, while moving it to the right will increase the zoom magnification.

Health Regeneration: moving the slider to the left will slow down health regeneration, while moving it to the right will speed up health regeneration.

Speed: moving the slider to the left will slow down a character's movement speed, while moving it to the left will speed up a character's movement speed.

Reload or Overheat Penalty: moving the slider to the left will increase weapon Reload time / Overheat Penalty is longer, while moving it to the right will reduce weapon reload time / Overheat Penalty is quicker.

Ammunition or Overheat: moving the slider to the left will reduce weapon ammunition / Overheat happens much quicker, while moving it to the right will increase weapon ammunition / Overheat happens much later.

Damage: moving the slider to the left will reduce primary weapon's projectile Damage done to enemies, while moving it to the right will improve primary weapon's projectile Damage.

Character Health: moving the slider to the left will reduce a character's total health, while moving it to the right will increase a character's total health.

There are other areas of concern that also has a place on the performance balance meter, such as elemental damage, class-specific specialties etc.

Peashooter class - Splash Damage Radius: moving the slider to the left will reduce the size of the primary weapon's splash damage radius, while moving it to the right will increase the size of the primary weapon's splash damage radius.

Chomper class - Digestion Time: moving the slider to the left will increase the time for a chomper to digest an enemy, while moving it to the right will reduce the time for a chomper to digest an enemy.

Sunflower class - Primary Weapon Firing Speed: moving the slider to the left will reduce the primary weapon's firing speed, while moving it to the right will increase the primary weapon's firing speed.

Cactus class - Long-Range Weapon's Accuracy: moving the slider to the left will reduce the accuracy of the long-range weapon, while moving it to the right will increase the accuracy of the long-range weapon.

Citron class - Citron Ball Form Movement Speed: moving the slider to the left will reduce the ball form's movement speed, while moving it to the right will increase the ball form's movement speed.

Rose class - Primary Weapon Homing Ability: moving the slider to the left will reduce the speed of the primary weapon's ability to home in on moving enemies, while moving it to the right will increase the speed of the primary weapon's ability to home in on moving enemies.

Corn class - Primary Weapon Firing Speed: moving the slider to the left will reduce the primary weapon's firing speed, while moving it to the right will increase the primary weapon's firing speed.

Tree class - Two parts for this class

a. Ranged Tree's Primary Weapon Firing Accuracy: moving the slider to the left will decrease the primary weapon's accuracy when continually firing, even while moving around, while moving it to the right will increase the primary weapon's accuracy when continually firing, even while moving around.

b. Melee Tree's Primary Weapon Damage Radius: moving the slider to the left will reduce the size of the primary weapon's damage radius, while moving it to the right will increase the primary weapon's damage radius.

Soldier class - Primary Weapon Firing Speed: moving the slider to the left will decrease the primary weapon's firing speed, while moving it to the right will increase the primary weapon's firing speed.

Engineer class - Splash Damage Radius: moving the slider to the left will reduce the size of the primary weapon's splash damage radius, while moving it to the right will increase the size of the primary weapon's splash damage radius.

Scientist class - Primary Weapon Close-Range Spread Damage: moving the slider to the left will reduce the spread of the primary weapon's damage at close range, while moving it to the right will increase the spread of the primary weapon's damage at close range.

All-Star class - Primary Weapon Firing Speed: moving the slider to the left will decrease the primary weapon's firing speed, while moving it to the right will increase the primary weapon's firing speed.

Pirate class - Long-Range Weapon's Accuracy: moving the slider to the left will reduce the accuracy of the long-range weapon, while moving it to the right will increase the accuracy of the long-range weapon.

Imp class - Primary Weapon Reticle Bloom: moving the slider to the left will increase the size of the reticle bloom while firing, while moving it to the right will decrease the size of the reticle bloom while firing.

Superhero class - Superhero Jump Height: moving the slider to the left will reduce the maximum height of a superhero jump, while moving it to the right will increase the maximum height of a superhero jump.

Hover-Goat class - Hovering Hangtime: moving the slider to the left will reduce the hangtime while hovering, while moving it to the right will increase the hangtime while hovering.

Elemental Damage: varies depending on the type of elemental weapon

1a. Primary Fire Damage: moving the slider to the left will reduce primary fire damage-overtime, while moving it to the right will increase primary fire damage-overtime.

1b. Fire Damage Ticks: moving the slider to the left will reduce the amount of fire damage ticks overtime, while moving it to the right will increase the amount of fire damage ticks overtime.

2. Ice Damage: moving the slider to the left will reduce the speed of the freeze effect, while moving it to the right will increase the speed of the freeze effect.

3. Electro Damage: moving the slider to the left will reduce the arc spread of electro damage, while moving it to the right will increase the arc spread of electro damage.

4a. Primary Toxic Damage: moving the slider to the left will reduce primary toxic damage-overtime, while moving it to the right will increase primary toxic damage-overtime.

4b. Toxic Damage Ticks: moving the slider to the left will reduce the amount of toxic damage ticks overtime, while moving it to the right will increase the amount of toxic damage ticks overtime.

4c. Toxic Aura Primary Damage: moving the slider to the left will reduce the toxic aura's primary damage, while moving it to the right will increase the toxic aura's primary damage.

4d. Toxic Aura Damage Radius: moving the slider to the left will reduce the damage radius of toxic aura, while moving it to the right will increase the damage radius of toxic aura.

5a. Primary Plasma Damage: moving the slider to the left will reduce primary plasma damage-overtime, while moving it to the right will increase primary plasma damage-overtime.

5b. Plasma Damage Ticks: moving the slider to the left will reduce the amount of plasma damage ticks overtime, while moving it to the right will increase the amount of plasma damage ticks overtime.

6. Jinx Effect: moving the slider to the left will reduce the effectiveness of Jinx, while moving it to the right will increase the effectiveness of Jinx.

7. Sonar Effect: moving the slider to the left will reduce the duration of the sonar effect, while moving it to the right will increase the duration of the sonar effect.

8. Vampire Damage-to-Health Conversion: moving the slider to the left will reduce the amount of lost health gained back from hitting enemies, while moving it to the right will increase the amount of lost health gained back from hitting enemies.

Penetration Ability: moving the slider to the left will reduce the number of enemies hit in a straight line through penetration, while moving it to the right will increase the number of enemies hit in a straight line through penetration.

Super Meter Ability (for Legendary characters only): moving the slider to the left will increase the required amount of enemies to defeat before entering a character's Legendary Mode, while moving it to the right will reduce the required amount of enemies to defeat before entering a character's Legendary Mode.

When you start the game, the character performance meter is locked until you reach rank 5 for an individual class. For evey fifth rank up for the class, the allowed adjustment area for the slider meter will be wider, allowing for more room to work with.

In online gaming, the slider meter will be more restrictive for character balancing. You'll have to get used to the more restrictive settings when playing in any online session of GW3.

Topic #8 - Controls - reworked for certain characters

 

The original controls from GW1 and GW2 will carry over to GW3, but will be upgraded to do the following:

1. The ability to switch between automatic, and manual firing for most characters can be done by pressing the left stick down on a controller e.g. PlayStation 4 DualShock 4 Controller, XBox One Controller etc.

2. For characters whose weapons can be detonated in mid-air, the ability to switch between the "Automatic Fire", or "Manual Fire With Detonation" modes can be done by pressing the right stick down on the controller.

3. For characters with short- and long-range weaopns, the ability to switch between either one without having to zoom in, can be done by pressing both the left and right sticks down simultaneously.

Topic #9 - The Garden/Graveyard Ops Levels - Level Creation - Turf Takeover - Exploration Mode - Other Modes

 

Garden Warfare 3 will be the first in the series to allow levels to be created by the player, using an in-built Level Editor. You can select where to put one of three locations of the gardens/graveyards in that level, and also spawn locations for enemies to come from, as well as garden/graveyard defenses. Obstacles that can impede progress of either side will be used as well. 12 new locations by EA and Popcap will be introduced, and also includes all the original locations seen in GW1 (8 locations) and GW2 (10 locations), taking the list up to 30.

A new type of ops mode for both sides will also be introduced, building upon the standard Op Mode: "Multi-Ops Mode", where more plants/zombies are sworn in to assist in the session. Your side will now have up to 8 friendly characters, while the minimum amount required to start the session will be fixed at 5.

The very popular Turf Takeover mode will carry over from GW2, with 11 new maps by EA and Popcap: 7 for the plants, and 4 for the zombies. To balance this, the older Turf Takeover maps from GW1 and GW2 will be added to the list, for a total of 20 (10 for the plants, 10 for the zombies).

The new Exploration Mode for GW3 allows you to explore any level in the game without doing an assignment or objective. Perfect for seeing what each level (especially the turf takeover levels) looks like.

Most of the other modes from GW2 will return, like the classic Team Vanquish, the strategic Vanquish Confirmed, the weird and explosive Gnome Bomb, and the defensive-heavy Suburbination.

Topic #10 - Online Community Challenges - More Secrets

 

The Community Challenges will carry over to GW3, with a new extra challenge for individual players to beat. Not only will there be global targets for the online community to beat, it also include a solo challenge where, if you manage to beat it, you'll get a very special reward for doing so. The Community Challenges will happen once every month.

Following in the tradition of GW2 having many secrets, GW3's brand-new levels will continue to mystify gamers with more hidden secrets; they'll need a very sharp eye and lots of patience if they want to uncover the secrets found within GW3.

Topic #11 - Player Loyalty Rewards/Character Transfer

 

Players who worked well in GW2 will be rewarded depending on their rank plate. *You must sign in to the EA servers to be eligible for the loyalty rewards.

Rank Plate 1+ - Reinforcements Pack - Contains 5 consumable items

Rank Plate 5+ - Supreme Pack - Contains 10 customization and consumable items, with the best chance of a super rare character piece.

Rank Plate 10+ - Ultimate Character Pack - Instantly guarantees a new character

Rank Plate 25+ - Century Pack - Contains 10 super rare customizations items

Rank Plate 50+ - To commemorate the end of the EA-Porsche exclusitivity deal, the Porsche variants of every class is awarded in this pack

Porsche Pea, Porsche Chomper, Porsche Flower, Porsche Cactus, Porsche Citron, Porsche Rose, Porsche Corn, Porschewood, Porsche Soldier, Porsche Engineer, Porsche Scientist, Porsche Star, Captain Porscheman, Porsche Imp, Porsche Brainz, Porsche Goat

They'll also be able to transfer most eligible characters and abilities from GW2 into GW3. Characters that are absent in GW3 but are present in GW2 will not be transferred.

Topic #12 - Item Customization System

 

GW3 will carry on with the same theme as seen in GW1 and GW2, but with a much better organization of how customization items are shown. Instead of cluttering up the item selection menu with items and their different versions (silver, gold, diamond, gem), the items will instead be shown with boxes on the item's image, indicating more versions of that specific item. Therefore, there's less time looking for that particular item, no matter what version it is, so you can get into the action quicker.

The Sticker Book also gets a refreshed look as well.

Topic #13 - Options Menu, and the much-needed Pause button for Solo Play

 

The various parts of the game can be configued in the newly-reorganised options menu where, for the first time in the GW series, you can pause the game while in solo play. Perfect for when you're suddenly called away to do one or two lengthy house jobs. Very important in my honest opinion! Who doesn't like being called away to do a house job of anything similar, when you can't pause the game as seen in GW1 and GW2? I have that same feeling.

Controller Vibration can be turned on or off

Look andAim sensitivity can adjusted between 0 and 100 respectively

Look/Aim vertical angle can be changed between normal and reversed

Look/Aim horizontal angle can be changed between normal and reversed

Aim/Fire buttons can be changed between standard and classic configurations

Music and sound can be adjusted between 0 and 100 respectively

Speaker type can be changed between Mono, Stereo, and other high-end configurations

User Agreement can be viewed for online gaming

Terms of Service/User agreement can be viewed

Instructional Manual can be viewed

Topic #14 - Online Gaming in GW3

 

Online gaming will carry over from GW2, applying to most modes in GW3. Unlike GW1 and GW2 where you're required to have an online account and a constant internet connection to play in those games, GW3 will be exempt from the Always-On requirement, making it the first Plants vz Zombies GW game to be finally playable without the need of such a requirement. Replay value for GW3 will therefore be much higher, making it suitable for the poor, and for families who can't afford the internet or the monthly internet bills.

Topic #15 - Managing our Local Saved Data

 

Because GW3 doesn't require an online account or a constant internet connection to play the game, the possibility of creating, saving, and deleting saved data will also be used, giving players around the world more choice on how they want to play. Who hates not being able to manage our saved data in GW1 and GW2 on our own? I have that very same feeling myself.

All saved data in GW3 will be saved locally, in our console's HDD. No online servers can take that away, right?

My Last Thoughts

 

Personally, as a veteran gamer of the GW series, I would really hate to see GW3 be slapped with the Always-On restriction, as it had with GW1 and GW2. I really don't want GW3 to be left unplayable when it's online servers are shut down for good. To make GW3 the best game ever in the Plants vz Zombies universe, almost everything I've mentioned in the OP must be accepted by EA and Popcap as the best method possible, not only to attract the core gamers that play the game everyday, but gamers of all other ages that play on an occasional basis, whether or not they have an online account to sign in to the online servers. I prey for EA and Popcap to make this not just the best game ever in the series, but very possibly the best game ever in the current generation of videogames. It will benefit not just EA and Popcap, but everyone else in the world.

I hope it happens one day. Fingers crossed.