5 years ago

We need Cross Play

So I asked a bunch of people about their views on Cross Play through a public survey I made and shared here:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion/PvZ-Battle-for-Neighborville-Survey/m-p/9172839#M21221

One question I asked was views on Cross Play in the game and the majority thought it was a great idea, therefore I have come to the conclusion that it should definitely be considered, planned and tested.

Let's quickly go over some pros and flaws of Cross Play and how, with time, PopCap can steer clear of the flaws:

Pros

- Hardly any restrictions to playing with friends (except PS Plus and Xbox Live Gold on console)

- Faster matchmaking

- Fuller lobbies

- Possible popularity increase

- According to a responder, PC BFN is not as popular as console BFN and could make matches in general more fun for the PC Gamers

(This technically isn't a pro but most Shooters nowadays have Cross Play so it is kind of expected in the genre)

Flaws

- PC Exploiters can ruin matches very easily

- Keyboard-and-mouse players have an arguable advantage over controller players

- The game isn't struggling on console so there isn't too much of a need

How to Avoid Flaws

- Luckily much work is not required to deal with exploiters as Easy Anti-Cheat is used and smurfing will cost a lot of money

- Make Cross Platform Matchmaking a Setting/Option but if players in a group are on different platforms then obviously matchmake into Cross Platform servers

I would extremely appreciate it if an EA Community Manager or even a developer could pass this onto the team.

Thank you,

CompleatBeet

22 Replies

GodlyGamerBEAST
5 years ago
@CompleatBeet If PopCap doesn't want to implement crossplay with console players being able to play with PC. It would be fine for me if they let xbox players play with ps4 players. Since PC players would probably rinse controller players.
Gormey
5 years ago
I play controller on pc and skill gap is not an issue between console and pc.
Just follow fortnite's lead and make pc forced on any mixed group...meaning playstation, xbox and pc player in a group then you must play against pc players, although I don't feel this is necessary.
Difference between fortnite and this game is the skill gap between console and pc players.
I played a ton of fortnite controller on pc and was not even an average player skill wise but I would say I'm top level player on bfn using controller on pc.
Regardless, I don't think popcap needs reasons to do this it's a proven model, my guess is they don't have monetary incentive to budget for this as this game is a flop financially with a player volume that's already dead.
It would be more likely to see this added to bfn2 or gw3...next game.
Treesanity
5 years ago
@CompleatBeet I mean I play COD against pc players (keyboard and mouse) and it's not at all difficult or feels like they have an unfair advantage at all. It's just your own personal skill that reflects the tide of the game if you feel like pc players have an unfair advantage.
malfinman
5 years ago
@CompleatBeet Would love to see at least console crossplay (xbox/ps4). That would be so much better than AI fill..
Fork_x_Spoon
5 years ago
If they choose to add cross-play, they better let us adjust the FOV on console. Playing Snapdragon takes up half the screen while aiming, so it'd be nice if we had that PC feature.
CompleatBeet
5 years ago
@GodlyGamerBEAST An easy way to tackle this is making Cross Platform Matchmaking an Accessibility Setting
@Gormey Usually PC Players are better than Console Players because there is less input delay and generally Keyboard and Mouse has an advantage over Controller but this is not always the case.
@Treesanity Yeah I guess so. It's just most people worry about how most skilled PC players are usually better than skilled console players.
@malfinman Same here! Although we don't want the game to struggle too much on PC.
CompleatBeet
5 years ago
@Fork_x_Spoon
I've never actually noticed!
I tend to use the Flame Blower rather than the Flare Ball when playing Snapdragon.
If it is a big problem then definitely!
GodlyGamerBEAST
5 years ago
@malfinman Yes I agree, if PopCap doesn't want to enable complete crossplay, I would rather have them enable Console crossplay
Motherball
5 years ago
Would this be as big of an issue if there were only a handful of PC players left and they weren’t all very good?
Iron_Guard8
Legend
5 years ago
I play on PC with KB+Mouse for my shooters and Paladins, which has many similarities to BfN, has crossplay across PC and consoles with no real issue. It would be nice to have all players in one big pool instead of 3 smaller ones. The PC playerbase is apparently the smallest but it can't be considered 'dead', but having us all together would let us join forum friends, have better match times for BA, and keep all modes more populated.
Cheating on PC is definitely a thing in GW1 and 2, and apparently right now in 2 it's really bad in PvP matches, but BfN has an anti-cheat program to help with that and I've not seen any cheaters here, beyond obvious exploits like the scientist steam blaster rapid fire glitch. Plus, they'd have to keep a tighter eye on cheaters if we all played together. It would really help the game overall if everyone played together.