Community AdminHey, just to give context on the bonus +66 XP, someone with "mark as solution" powers accidentally marked it as a solution, so our XP bot (AHQ Official) granted the bonus "bounty" XP.
This "solution" status was revoked, but due to a quirk in the system, we can't revoke the bonus XP in this case without revoking a bunch of properly earned XP with it.
Now we can all go back to our beloved variants and actual fun maps in GW2 and let’s pretend this “game” never existed
I can’t say I’m super surprised that the game is shutting down to a maintenance-only pattern for the near future.
Ive always like that PvZ did things a little differently but for BfN they ditched that tradition for the “live service” template complete with drip-fed content, what is essentially a battle pass demanding daily play, FOMO store rotation and a quarterly micro-transaction revenue requirement.
I stopped playing months ago for a variety of reasons concerning how the game played as well as the ones I just mentioned but I don’t blame PopCap as the live service template clearly has EA’s fingerprints all over it.
@realitysquared wrote:I can’t say I’m super surprised that the game is shutting down to a maintenance-only pattern for the near future.
Ive always like that PvZ did things a little differently but for BfN they ditched that tradition for the “live service” template complete with drip-fed content, what is essentially a battle pass demanding daily play, FOMO store rotation and a quarterly micro-transaction revenue requirement.
I stopped playing months ago for a variety of reasons concerning how the game played as well as the ones I just mentioned but I don’t blame PopCap as the live service template clearly has EA’s fingerprints all over it.
I've enjoyed BfN more than many of our old regulars (obviously including you @realitysquared ), but this sums it up well. It's been hamstrung by the very things you indicate here.
My friend that played tons of GW2 with me did play some BfN but when he was unable to play enough, due to being on call often, and found out he couldn't possibly keep up with the prize maps and other items, so he stopped playing.
I went through my old transaction history to see when I got GW (June 2014), and saw all the transactions for coin packs and upgrades for GW1 and 2 over the years, and I never regretting spending all that extra money on the games as I never felt forced to do so, I just wanted to support the games I loved, I've paid a sub for junk like WoW, so buying some coin packs for GW1 and 2 wasn't a big deal. I find it telling that my aforementioned friend never spent any extra money on GW2 and yet, he wasn't that far behind me and eventually caught up.
I did buy rainbow stars and that Xmas pack for BfN but it was in anticipation of a long term game and I again, even with the issues the game has, I wanted to show support for the PvZ shooters. I want to also point out, that GW1 and 2 certainly had issues at launch and while most have been fixed, and none as serious as that Chomper rapid bite glitch we just had here, neither of the old games are perfect, but core functions of moving and shooting are so much smoother than in BfN, and those are the critical things a shooter needs.
GW2 was my main game for years and for a shooter, rather than an MMO or an RPG, that's something special. GW1 was good but it always felt like it wasn't 100% done to me, despite how much fun I had with it. When GW2 was released and once we got past the 'Rose plague' and the weird bug with the control points, it was such a great game. It's popular enough that I played earlier, getting all the current quests done and had to shoot down a pirate parrot for one, and jumping into a TT MP portal, it popped almost instantly and the lobby was a full 12 v 12. And this on PC at 10 AM my time, where people have proclaimed it was 'dead' for some time!
I'm not happy that BfN is not receiving any more new support, but I'm not 100% surprised either. I was willing to give the new ideas a try; variants are fun but they cause a lot of the balance issues that still plague GW1 and 2 so changing to more base characters and no variants wasn't automatically bad, sprinting I'm largely indifferent too, but was willing to adapt, and so on. BfN improved a few things actually; being able to help revive teammates and late on, to also gain XP for that is great, the customizations are largely brilliant, the free roam zones are a blast to play through, having objective master as a boast is a huge change we've asked for since GW1, and of course the UI and ability to save multiple costumes and builds are all positive changes I welcomed.
Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives; core functions are still off (aiming, moving, and the like), the economy is a mess-I never thought I'd see a PvZ game where getting coins feels pointless, several people are experiencing a lot of lag, it really should have launched with crossplay, the TTK feels off-with healing and over-healing too strong especially,. the lack of damage drop off is a serious balance and tempo issue, Ops are just not that interesting, and so on.
I do sincerely hope we see a GW3 some day in future. Returning largely to the wonderful formula of GW2 but taking some of the better ideas from BfN and giving us the best PvZ shooter ever. If and when we get that new PvZ shooter, let's also have a longer alpha/beta, more advertising, more communication, and a less egregious business model. We know that the first two games did well, and they have great player retention, so why not return to what we loved and what also made money?
@realitysquaredI was right there with you. I was so excited to see what the game was going to have. I had a map I saw of town center as my wallpaper at my lab PC at work, I was devouring any and all news about it, and bought it the second I was able to when founders came out.
I do like it more than you do, but everything you mention is true as well. I've been back at GW2 more lately and running an Ops, it was shocking to feel the difference between the two games by playing Ops in BfN in the same day, and that's just one of the changes I both agree with you on, and find so unfulfilling to play.
I really do hope we get a new PvZ shooter someday, and I hope it's very much like what you ask for here.
I have the same feelings on this! I don't like to grind for all the prize bulbs or other things it's not fun when it's like that.
