Thoughts for GW3

I agree with pretty much all that you had to say here.

I remember PvZ, and PvZ2 evolved and expanded that goofy little Tower Defense game and GW1 evolved and expanded it even further. GW2 did the same for GW1, opening it up into a larger world set and bringing with it more details and things to discover.

If there is to be a GW3 it needs to keep the expansion and evolution ongoing, and by that I don't mean a never ending parade of new characters and customization items but rather a larger Background Battleground with secrets and mysteries to explore and additional maps or possible modes of play, both Solo, Co-Op and Multiplayer.

One thing which I believe is absolutely required is to keep the goofy sort of "WTF" nature of the game intact. I enjoyed the maps from GW1 because they were quirky and you got the real sense of the Zombies invading from the desolate outskirts of civilization and marauding through the neighborhoods and outlying towns.

GW2 clearly drew more inspiration from the time traveling aspect of PvZ2 for many of it's maps as well as advancing it's world to the point where the Zombies aren't just invading  but have conquered and have settled in to stay.

I, like many other GW1 players, miss that feeling of a gang of Zombies gathering in some backwoods under order from Zomboss to go trash some outlying neighborhood or important landmark to stake out a claim for Brainz and I'd love to see some maps or scenarios which offer this sort of overall feeling to them.

We got something to close to that, only from the other side, with the Zombopolis map,where the Plants obviously have made their way through the sewers to invade Zombie territory to destroy their new Zombot, Moon Base Z where the Plants are out to destroy Zomboss' Super Magnet, and the Zomburbia map where the Plants are out to crash the Zombie graduation party and I really enjoy the implied narrative behind those maps.

Even Frontline Flats has a small story behind it with the mechanized Zomburbia Wall on it's treads clearly intended to simply bulldoze over the neighborhood while Crazy Dave fights back by throwing big bundles of laundry at it. 

Aqua Center carries less of a story, but it's only even there for those Players who recognize it as a Zombie controlled Garden Center from GW1; for new Players it's just a place.

Time Park is very much divorced from all of the other narratives with the exception of it evidently leading back to Rose's castle, which the Zombies have a desire to kick their way into and take over for Zomboss.

On the other hand Zen Peak, and Boney Island lack any discernible story- they just exist as places loosely tied to Time Park, which as I mentioned is just sort of there.

I would hope that future maps maybe take a lesson from Battlefield; design the maps big with the intention of any one of them being a potential Turf Takeover battlefield and have them tell a story about what's gong on and fill them with all those little details which are abundant in the maps we have now. Then carve sections out of those larger battlefields for games of Vanquish, Gnome Bomb, and anything else which doesn't need the rambling space to be played and add in your boundaries and devices and whatever else.