So glad you posted this subject @stukapooka .
When GW2 first launched, I was mind-boggled at how amazing the Backyard Battleground was. A living, breathing world that you can jump into whenever you like? With escalating fights, hidden quest NPCs, unlockable mini-games, and so much more. It was even better for the seasonal quests when the bat or snowman appeared so we could get the seasonal costume pieces and consumables.
Giddy Park has a couple decent things like the gnome puzzle, Peashooter fishing buddy, and that zombie dance mini-game (I like the plant piano and the button that changes the sounds to silly ones instead of normal notes, but the zombies have an advantage here as far as getting things for the mini-game). But it pales in comparison to the backyard. You've outlined most of this already, but I want to go over some of it from my perspective as well.
AI & other players: Why is Giddy Park only wildflowers and TV Heads barring some special events? Not only do those particular AI ruin the mobile mob vs stationary defense equation, making them the sole AI for 95+% of the battles in Giddy park, means that it's rather dull unless you can get some others players in your park, but then you run into the spawn camp issue as the landing zones have no defenses, unlike the bases in GW2, and that drive people to private parks so they can get stuff done without worrying about that. Back when the game was still pretty new, I was playing about in the park on my space cadet, joined a full station and we were battling there till the pilot of our full station went to spawn camp, so I jumped off and went into some matches instead.
If they had more AI like in GW2, and better defending AI (pots/bots, bosses, and so on), this would not only make Giddy Park more interesting, it would make it more enjoyable for people that want to battle with other players and AI, without the constant spawn camping. The lack of variety makes it rapidly grow stale too, gone are the days of a couple of us hanging out in the backyard and seeing how many bosses we can get into the battle at once; we've had at least 6 (3 per side) before!
Customize: One thing where Giddy Park failed but the BB was decent at is customizing the experience. While you only had limited options for placing decorations, and only one spot for a legendary one, at least you had the ability to personalize your backyard to a small degree, something that was absent in GP. I still remember when GW2 was new and I saw all those cranes in the background and was excited at the idea of the BB being expanded, only it never was. I get why GP lacks this feature as it was designed mostly as a social hub rather than a living world (the free roam regions were more for that purpose, although we can't customize those unfortunately), but it's lack is still felt.
Aesthetics: Like you point out, @stukapooka , Giddy Park feels more generic than the Backyard Battleground. I don't hate it or anything, and it looks very nice as the prize map changes to reflect the seasons, but while the plant side largely works, the zombie side doesn't feel zombified enough. I know on complaint that some point out that changed from GW to GW2 is the large amount of zombie purple that shows up, but it also reflects the zombie style of things so well, and this would have helped to make the zombie presence pop more in GP as well as elsewhere.
Part of why I suggested the idea of a customizable version of the BB separate from the PvP oriented open battlefield that replaces GP was so that people that wanted to just fight AI and make their own version of the PvZ conflict, but the game could still have a social hub to meet and fight with other players (and AI), for objectives and bragging rights, is that both ideas fit the game well and I imagine most players would love to have a place like the BB they could call home and mess about it while changing things around to some degree, and to have a place to just go and fight with other players aside from the regular matches. I'd still have free roam regions of course, as I really enjoyed those in BfN, but you'd have more reasons to go back instead of 100% them and then not really have any reason to return.
@Iron_Guard8The piano in the plant base feels weird. Its nice how you can change the tune but the zombie dance floor is an actual competition that gives out coins. I keep believing that a zen garden like the td games in the plant base would work perfectly.
The main issue with tv head and wildflower besides not fitting the series design balance is that they're freaking everywhere in bfn. There the only AI in giddy park and the pve regions throw them at you in full over and over again.
Much like you say pots or bots would fight back against spawncamping and one thing the AI did in gw2 was put them down in the backyard before venturing into battle and is always liked that.
The backyards customization was limited but its sad to see that they've walked back on the idea entirely.
The main problem with bfn maps aesthetic in general is that you do have rare maps that fit plants like preserve pastures but none of them fit the zombies like zomboss estate or even getting graveyards for their spawnpoints in gw1 unlike the overwatch styled spawns we have now. The zombie aesthetic in gw2 may have turned off some people but a map like zompobolis blows away all if anything bfn did for the zombies. (Concept art for one map still showed a cemetery so I guess they scrapped that). It may sound petty but I have an old posts about aesthetic i'll try and finish.
The backyard being expanded while maintaing better multiplayer functions would be good as more chaos in the action such as say cob mortars or tactical cuke strikes on the field would make things more interesting.
