Spawnable discussion: scaredy shroom and hide n shoot bot

These are 2 that I only use on certain spots and maps, as even back in the original GW there weren't a lot of spots where they work that well, especially in multiplayer matches. They're much better in Ops as you can more readily predict where enemies will come from, and can have other pots/bots attract AI attention so they can do their work. They're quite effective in GW2's backyard battleground when planted at your base too.

Scaredy Shrooms in the modes where they had infinite ammo were disgusting. I remember jumping into that Imp vs. Corn portal with infinite ammo and the Imps were consistently getting destroyed, and part of that was what for all purposes would be considered 'Gatling' Scaredy Shrooms. It was so bad that on Piece of Time as corn, I had to pull back to avoid spawn camping as even multiple mechs working together would get slaughtered in seconds!

The next game does need to have pots and bots that work and are well positioned, and are useful and effective without being OP.

@Iron_Guard8In turf they aren't that great in fact it would probably go gw1 turf>gw2 turf>bfn turf. Though I do often die from potshots at low health.

Gw1&2 ops scaredy shroom is pretty effective since he has other pots that can support him while he wittles down the horde and can even shoot back into the garden from certain areas. In Bfn ops the zombies just spawn on him and he misses every shot than dies.

Putting snipers or air strike spawnables in the backyard was a nice way to farm due to their range.

Infinte ammo gw2 scaredy shroom is unbelievably overpowered and I love it. Though I never found normal sniper spawnables overpowered. In fact the only pot I found overpowered was gw1 bamboo shoot who in numbers could nuke bosses quickly.

@stukapooka I honestly never found an potted plant or bot truly OP (barring infinite ammo, rapid firing scaredy shrooms and maybe the DJ Orbital Bots), I meant more of a general idea. Bots, pots, and the mobile AI we can summon have to tow a fine line to be good enough to want to use, and not too strong to upset the balance in multiplayer matches. Of the 3, I'd say that GW2 does the best job here overall, and BfN the worst. Obviously what you summon and which bot/pot site you use matters a lot here too; putting a melee pot/bot in the back away from the point or putting a sniper bot/pot at point blank in front are not going to work well (although at least the snipers can shoot enemies while they are still far away), but getting the stats right can make a huge difference. The spawnables should matter and be useful, so too weak or too strong are both problems.

Time to take aim and hide when enemies get close with these summonables!

Introduction

The Scaredy Shroom and Hide n Shoot Bot are summonables that can deal high damage to enemies, as well as having good aim, but they fire slowly and do not perform as well against multiple enemies. They have slightly more health compared to their basic counterparts. When enemies get close to them, they hide and refuse to shoot enemies, but they gain significant armor, making them very tedious to vanquish during this state. The damage that these summonable variants deal can vary based on how distant the enemy was, but they deal more damage than most other summonables generally deal.

My Thoughts

These summonables are quite capable of dealing some good damage and will hit their shots often, at the cost of firing slowly and only being able to deal damage to a single enemy at once. Their damage is greater compared to the amount that most other summonables deal. They do their job quite well right now, but I would suggest giving them some higher damage at the cost of a lower speed (very similar to the way snipers currently work in Battle for Neighborville) and less armor when it is hiding, but give it some more health, not much though as they are snipers. 

I would give these summonables a Medium difficulty to defeat. Despite being able to deal significant amounts of damage and having good accuracy, you can avoid being hit by staying out of its line of fire. It is also slow and if you have multiple allies together with you, you should have almost no trouble defeating it. An option is to get close to it as you attack so it will not retaliate on you, however due to its powerful armor during this state, it could take a long time to vanquish, so another option is to focus your fire and take it out quickly from a range, but use cover as appropriate.

The Scaredy Shroom and Hide n Shoot Bot are present in Battle for Neighborville, which I am totally in agreement with. They each possess a cooldown of around 4 minutes, but I reckon that they could have a cooldown of 3 minutes. The reason for my reduced cooldown suggestion is because while they can be powerful, they can be defeated easily in groups or with access to cover. They should have a cooldown, but there really seems to be no need for such a long cooldown.

In A Future Shooter

I believe that these summonables should return in a future shooter, as they are cool summonables and have their strengths, but also weaknesses. They should be relatively easy to obtain and also to amass in large quantities if players desire. They may cost around 2,500 Coins each, as they can be significantly more powerful compared to their basic variants. I would suggest an unlock cost before being able to use them to make them harder to get at the start, perhaps this unlock cost would be 10,000 Coins per faction, however you would also start with 5, giving you a discount and also giving you free access to these summonables thereafter. 

Overall

Due to these summonables having their perks but while also having disadvantages, I would make them relatively cheap to get and giving them a small unlock cost before they can be used freely, but having a discount attached as well so you gain better value upon the unlock. These summonables work well as they are, however I would suggest giving them a damage boost (but an even slower fire rate) and a slight health boost (but less armor when it is hiding) as well.