Scrapped content part 1: gw1

This always interests me as I have the art book too, and there are lots of ideas that didn't make the final cut to the shooters that I really want to see implemented in a new one. Not all ideas pan out, but one thing I love about PvZ is how so many ideas do work!

Gravedigger has been something of a legend in the shooters, and I noticed him in the tube in Z-Tech Factory in GW2 early on. Variants for him would be less obvious than the others, so I do get why he's gone, and I always heartily agree that Baron Von Bats ended up being a more appealing boss. I wonder if he would have made an appearance in BfN had that game gone better and support would have lasted longer?

Zomboss Factory sounds like a cool map. Since I play on PC and TT is my favorite mode anyway, I would love more maps to play on. Z-Tech Factory in GW2 is a personal favorite map too so I would love to have this as a TT map. I think you're correct about the zombies coming to take it back if it was a G&G map in GW, as the game was made so plants defend and zombies attack like the tower defense games. A bit of lore could be part of that idea too.

I feel that 8 points is a bit long as 7 is quite a lot already for TT maps as GW maps vary the number of points to take and GW2 had them all at 6 which worked well, but 4 in BfN is too few. Some of those ideas could be used in more PvE content like the backyard quests from GW2. I'd love to see a combination of the best ideas from all 3 games in a brand new one, and a nice chunk of PvE content in addition to the PvP stuff would be amazing if done well.

You can place turrets at some garden spots in G&G maps and of course around the teleporters in GW, but replacing a drone with a turret as an alternate ability would be cool. 

I really like the hand grenade idea. Hope that one resurfaces eventually in some form. A mobile bomb could work for the plants too quite easily if they wanted to retheme the idea.

Sports juice now sounds like a better fit for Super Brainz than All-Star. An alternate ability for one of his current ones where you get a temporary buff that makes you tougher and cause more damage but only briefly and post buff vulnerability phase perhaps? Call it something Brainz Booster.

Doctor Zomboss riding a giant zombot could be a cool boss for PvE content or the final objective on a herbal assault map. 

Bungee Zombie would be difficult to implement based on he has to bungee out of something above. Could be a neat minion or part of a level challenge though, like have them part of a PvE environment where they descend from a roof above for plant PvE stuff and you have to avoid them.

Future Imps are rare in GW2, although you do get those waves of them and other imps in Ops and I've seen videos of them in mods for GW2 as well. Could be summonable in a future game too.

I remember that contest where we got plasma pea. I do wish we had things more active like that. I loved when they had all those videos upon YouTube for them playing Cats vs. Dinos, and Infinity Time and other stuff too, as well as community challenges and more portal options. All that great stuff that made us love the games and the team are sadly lacking now. I'd love to have that return for GW3.

Bling Chomper sounds like a costume for BfN more than a variant, and one place where BfN does shine are the costumes as many are excellent.

@Iron_Guard8Bfn overall just needed much more content. While I do think gravekeeper would fit the gw aesthetic better he still should've been a character as this was their chance to capitalize on doing overwatch who definetly pumped out characters faster even if it came at the cost of balance and maps. Wizard was nice (easily the best support since hovergoat) but the overall state of the game was still bad and a lot of goodwill was gone since it took him and preserve pastures almost half a year to get in since founders which sucks in game with less launch content than its predeccesor at launch.

If they do add him in new game i think he would take the no variant rule that hovergoat, wizard, and even torchwood can escape from with enough effort and people would still play him if the kit is good enough. I had an idea where he had a burrow like ability that lasts twice as long without being able to attack (a prompt like a shovel would appear every few seconds that can be damaged to make him resurface) and he would use the tombstone to mark a player to save them upon death and respawn them instantly where it was, even AI zombies (though they can be destroyed and selfdestruct after saving the zombie), think of it as an evolution of TV heads respawn bucket.

Zomboss factory would be a strnage parallel to the rest of gw1 since zomboss estate was the only zombie heavy area in game. It could've worked really well as a TT map in gw2. The zombotanany zombies could add so much to lore/gameplay its crazy. I do like walnut hills overall but I think an original map would've worked better.

8 points is too long as I like gw1 maps but I think gw2 got the overall amount right at 6 as some areas in gw1 were too short or dragged on a bit too long like main street. Bfn feels too small and some points are an absolute mess in design

I share your thoughts on this stuff being pve though as flying through set obstacles or fighting a mega flower like boss in the shipwreck idea could work really well in a pve setting.

The upgradable turret would work wonders as it avoids the problem of the heavy helper yet gives engineer a good alt to drones and the bolt blaster.

The hand grenade idea sounded pretty cool when I read it and while I do like the sticky bombs it would be a cool ability to see it skitter to an enemy before blowing up. I could see it being troublesome to program though.

Superbrainz having a berserker mode could lead to some good superhero references. Maube make him deal more damage but he recieves more as well.

I've longed for a proper dr zombos s in the shooters since gw1 even if it was heavily telegraphed. A braniac maniac remix must play or its 0/10 immediatly.

i could imagine bungee zombie either dropping from portals like the z mech to attack or drop off other zombies farther up the line or a minigame like the dance floor in bfn where you have to avoid being grabbed when they come down and the last man standing wins.

I feel future imp would work better as a ranged summonable as he's predictable and slow unlike tv head and Robo zombies.

The drop off in communication from gw1/2 (harry the healer contest, contests, community challenges) to bfn is extreme and it's hard to realize that it's the same team and i hope communication opens up for the entire franchise.

The costumes in bfn were pretty good but given how many rainbow stars it took to get them it gives the impression they were incentive to play which sucks since they do look nice.

Now this is some interesting content!

I knew about some of this content, but the rest of this scrapped content is completely unfamiliar to me. Sports Juice would have been cool, it could have been a defense buff while it is active, similar to Leaf Shield for Torchwood. It seems like the Gravedigger class could have been added multiple times, all the way from Garden Warfare 1 to Battle for Neighborville. It is good to see that some of this content made its way to Garden Warfare 2, such as the Mech Gargantuar. 

Some of this scrapped content could appear in a future shooter if it ever comes out. It will be cool for some of this new content to see the light of day, especially the Gravedigger Zombie as it sounds cool and could act as a counterpart to the Chomper plant. I would not really mind if it had variants or not, although it could be a relatively tanky zombie, like the Torchwood, and have similar abilities. 

While I have not played the original Garden Warfare, I had seen some of this scrapped and unused content and just found about other scrapped content when you posted this. This was interesting and thanks for sharing!