Board Thread:Plants vs. Zombies 2/@comment-25981006-20151110041630

TL;DR

PvZ2:EOTE would be brand new final edition of the game that balances all worlds, maybe removes power-ups, scraps premiums and either repurposes or removes coins. It would be for a one-off purchase on the PC and other platforms, maybe even for the phone for $5-10 like how PvZ:GOTYE was released.

I was just thinking lately about the lack of balance that is starting to become evident in PvZ2, which is most noticable with plants such as Redstinger, AKEE and Cactus, and some of the upcoming plants. I know lots of people are hoping that when this game is finished, it will come out on PC, myself included. I think it will, because it's a no-brainer to port a game that you've already made to another platform if you want a profit, even for a one-off purchase. It's a huge profit for little effort (all the assets are done). Also, in an article made a long time back, I read that Adrien Yorozu suggested that, yes, it might be ported to other platforms and they'd redesign the game to fit, scrapping the freemium model if it doesn't work (which it doesn't on PC I might add). I read that here: http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a505259/plants-vs-zombies-2-developer-popcap-explains-free-to-play-decision/.

My thoughts would be that they ought to make a new game signalling the end of development for anything but bug fixes. I like the premise of calling it the End of Time Edition because it suggests there will be no further development in the title and it's a pun on time and time travel, like It's About Time.

Most importantly, premiums would have to be removed and the plants and upgrades unlocked another way. One possibility would be to move them into a store like in the first game. This would allow a new place to spend either coins or gems. They could be unlocked in the store once you reach the corresponding world. A second possibility is to integrate them into the worlds themselves by changing the level structure slightly so that they are unlocked as you go.

Balancing would be crucial to reducing obsolescence of plants, eg. Bloomerang by Cactus or AKEE, Repeater by Redstinger, Sunflower by Sun-shroom, etc. Balancing doesn't need to be too drastic, just some minor damge and sun cost changes. For instance, Redstinger could either be repriced to 200 sun or do only 1 damage per barb. Zombies could be slightly weakened or slowed to compensate if necessary.

Power-ups don't need to be removed, but they might be. Power-ups offer a solution for players who have difficulty beating the game and they're good for a last resort situation. Players shouldn't be given the option to spend real money to buy them if they remain though. If power-ups were removed, either coins would be removed or they'd be re-purposed for a shop if one were implemented. The Zen Garden could still stay easily enough, gems also.

Anyway, what do you guys think? 