We need a new PvZ shooter
It's been too quiet for too long. BfN lost new content support over a year ago now, and the playerbase is mostly focused on GW2 from what I can see from playing online, the video content on YouTube, ...
Forum Discussion
@stukapookaOh, I'm well aware we may never see another PvZ shooter, and things are very dark for the game part of the franchise right now. But, the number one reason I still post here is to keep the games out there in the open. I have no idea how much attention the EA forum personnel look at these forums, but the heck if I'm giving up on these games now. We're itching for a new shooter, and I want to keep things going as best I can.
That one excellent video from the content creators we've seen before points out that GW3 doesn't even have to do that much to be well received, although it would have been more well received, had they not launched BfN in such a mess. While not an exhaustive list, the following would be excellent:
- Fix the bugs in GW2
- Improve the netcode so hit registration will be far less of an issue
- Balance things better (character variants, alternate abilities, and so on)
- Stop selling power, like the torch and tail pack, make anything like that attainable in game (yes, it's a product and EA/PopCap need to make money, but don't be so egregious about it)
- Support the game for a long time, stop pulling active support so early. Let's be honest here, had they just kept adding to GW2, we'd see a much livelier population on the forums and in game. We lost so many long term folks, going back to GW's forums (I wasn't active here till GW2 was out), that would largely still be here with us.
And a new game would almost certainly build on that list too. GW3 could simply be GW2 with what I listed there and some new characters/variants, and we'd be golden, imagine if they also brought back the GW maps (with some alterations to balance them out better, we don't need the return of the 90% rooftop campers), added some new ones, and gave us free roam regions like in BfN but also made them more appealing for return trips. I'd be onboard from day one, and I'm not the only one!
@Iron_Guard8A gw3 should simply build upon what 1&2 laid out before it seems to be the popular opinion and I agree how ever they definetly will need to improve after bfn and imo the community needs to ponder why bfn was made in the first place over a true gw3. Was it a smaller budget, overwatch, or something else?
Any way my wishlist for a gw3 would include:
1. New ai enemies that aren't reskins of browncoats for the 50th time. Send tv head and wildflower to the void or rework them but get them outta here!
2. Better ai all around as bfn's was definitely worse than 2's.
3. The animation and effect details have to improved as gw2's were way more detailed than bfn's. How the heck does a game with less effects to work with have them look worse than the ps3 port?
4. Don't completely shaft ops and the non turf maps in terms of design and layout.
5. Buff the pots, no exceptions.
6. New ops bosses that aren't reskinned boss hunts.
7. Bot support for all maps and modes.
8. Don't rush characters and maps or half bake them. Quality>quantity
@stukapooka wrote:@Iron_Guard8A gw3 should simply build upon what 1&2 laid out before it seems to be the popular opinion and I agree how ever they definetly will need to improve after bfn and imo the community needs to ponder why bfn was made in the first place over a true gw3. Was it a smaller budget, overwatch, or something else?
Any way my wishlist for a gw3 would include:
1. New ai enemies that aren't reskins of browncoats for the 50th time. Send tv head and wildflower to the void or rework them but get them outta here!
2. Better ai all around as bfn's was definitely worse than 2's.
3. The animation and effect details have to improved as gw2's were way more detailed than bfn's. How the heck does a game with less effects to work with have them look worse than the ps3 port?
4. Don't completely shaft ops and the non turf maps in terms of design and layout.
5. Buff the pots, no exceptions.
6. New ops bosses that aren't reskinned boss hunts.
7. Bot support for all maps and modes.
8. Don't rush characters and maps or half bake them. Quality>quantityI agree with this list (although if we get boss hunts back outside of Ops, they need to be shorter events, half an hour only to lose at times is too much time wasted) and am glad to see @PerniciousPea and @TheSprinter85 here as well!
As far as BfN's budget, I don't know how it compares to GW2, although I have heard that GW did not have a huge budget and it's success was a surprise to EA, but I'm certain that the original success of OW (which is kind of ironic now), influenced what would have otherwise been GW3 rather than BfN. If they did make massive changes midstream that would explain why Founders was in such rocky shape.
As @PerniciousPea points out, a big part of the appeal of PvZ is it's silly atmosphere. I do like games like F.E.A.R. there are actually super gory but it's difficult to match the fun of PvZ, and I miss having stuff to unlock and an active shooter to play. All 3 games are still playable, but as they're in maintenance mode with no new content, we're in a kind of limbo. I'm wondering if they're eyeing PvZ3 to see how it does with all the changes (which are mostly good from what I saw), before they address the shooters again.There's a few YouTubers that built their entire career, or at least large chunks of it, on the shooters, so they could help build up interest for GW3, and they also show EA/PopCap that there are literally millions of people that would play/watch a new game, so it makes sense financially for them to pursue a new game, and sooner rather than later.
- @Iron_Guard8 The satire of modern shooters was what made gw1's advertising and atmosphere so great as you can see it's clearly mocking the ultra dark and cynical atmospheres of modern day shooters with its own aesthetic and overall idea while not bordering into full on cartoon like bfn did (funny as we almost got that ultra edgy version that had soldier with a gun chained to his hand!).
Gw1 being on a small budget makes since given that there was no guarantee it would succeed by changing a 2d TD to a 3d 3rd person shooter and it instead happened to be a success.
Bfn however is the third game down the line after the budget clearly was improved between gw1-2 and it clearly shows that there seems to be less design and time put into it.
PvZ 3 is in a weird spot tbh. They're hardly advertising it despite its massive improvement over the version they had over a year ago that is still sadly burned into people's memories. The overall changes were nice but it also still feels lacking in the animation department on the zombies alongside a few weird balancing changes.
It would make financial sense to do a gw3 but at the same moment they also probably lost a lot of money on bfn so they would be reluctant to put more money into a series they view as a failure despite the fact that bfn's failure was their own fault for messing with the formula in the first place.When I first heard of GW back in early '14, I was wondering how it would work with the plant players being unable to move! Then I saw a trailer and picked it up immediately as it was on PC by then and it became my favorite multiplayer shooter until GW2 came out in 2016. I have played others of course; Paladins, TF2, OW, Gigantic, and a couple others, but none have been as fun as the PvZ ones and I have more hours in GW2 alone than any MMO I've played and those things are designed to drain your time away!
I never liked CoD and it's only gotten worse. I did play BF:1942 a lot but only with friends and bots, but generally, I don't enjoy real world style shooters at all as I find them boring and mundane, they have to have some kind of twist or be fantastical like Doom, Heretic, Dusk, or Hexen. This puts the PvZ shooters right up there and I while I used to play a lot of TF2 for similar reasons, I haven't played it all that much since GW2 launched. It's hard to enjoy other shooters after being a Sunflower with an ice cream sandwich on my head, shooting lightning at a zombie foot soldier with 3D glasses and a big foam finger hat while we battle over a taco place and Crazy Dave proclaims that he once lost a game of checkers to a sandwich.
