October 2019 Patch

The October 2019 Update was an update for Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville released on June 15th, 2017.

Dev Notes
Hello Founding Neighbors! It’s been a fun ride recently with all our Founding Neighbors (those who purchased the Founder’s Edition, that is), and we’re in the fifth week of dropping content during the Founders program -- so don’t forget to keep playing! While the Founder’s Edition is now unavailable for those who haven’t yet picked it up, launch is right around the corner on October 18! Before the wackiest plant-on-zombie conflict blooms everywhere, though, we wanted to take a few moments to say thanks and detail all that we’ve unveiled, tweaked, and twisted with the latest update. And, we want to give a giant thanks to all who took part as a Founding Neighbor – your help and support not only drives us but helps us into making Battle for Neighborville! Now let’s dig into the detail.

Full Patch Notes
Key New Features Turned On – Now Available for Founding Neighbors
 * Enabled Town Center Zombie Region.
 * Added 4v4 Battle Arena game mode.
 * Started the Lawn of Doom Festival and Prize Map.
 * Enabled Daily, Weekly, and Character challenges.

Characters
 * Added friend or foe outline to better communicate enemies to players – togglable in settings.
 * Added Signature Sound to burrowing Chompers to alert nearby zombies to their presence – players will now have a more audible cue for when being chased by a burrowed Chomper.
 * Improved Chomper run/landing animation to reduce stretching.
 * Added bullet drag to allow faster speeds from projectile launch and slow down projectiles as they get to max range.
 * Improved sprinting audio to amplify footsteps.
 * Added audio to Sonic Swarm when tracking towards characters.
 * Fixed some characters having invisible weapons.
 * Fixed missing impact audio sounds for several weapons and abilities.
 * Fixed missing hit escalation sounds when shooting with Rose/Space Cadet.
 * Fixed double Goatify abilities being present when using Goatify with Rose.
 * Created VFX to highlight Sunflower/Peashooter when in more powerful rooted state so they can’t hide in shadows.
 * Added setting to tune Cactus/Captain Deadbeard ADS Scope sensitivity.

Character Tuning

Fung Fu

 * Flask VFX added when activating for better visual tell

Disco Tornado

 * Improved detonation audio

Healing Hose

 * Improved animation

UI Changes
 * Added Character Class info to reward pop up for better context of who reward is for
 * Added ability to skip reward presentation for Reward-o-tron-rewards to speed things up
 * Added improvements to the Reward Images for customization items
 * Fixed issues where incorrect expression was being displayed
 * Fixed issue with expressions ellipses appearing over player head and unable to clear it
 * Fixed some issues with equipping upgrades

Modes
 * Improved audio awareness of when objectives being captured in Gnome Bomb/Suburbination
 * Increased Multiplayer Mode Coin Rate to be more in line with Free Roam earn rate

Ops:

 * Complete returning of ops waves and pacing
 * Shortened time it takes to complete each wave
 * Fixed some issues with AI navigation
 * Added Elite Boss Waves

Turf Takeover:

 * Objective Time Tuning
 * Tweaked Spawn Positions
 * Minigame tuning

Free Roam Region
 * Collected Gnome Race gnomes now show up as ghosted once completed
 * Adjusted difficulty in several quests, gnome challenges, and hunts
 * Improved compass navigation in a few oddball areas
 * Chest reward pop ups now prioritized over reward level up to reduce sight blocking rewards in event player also levels up
 * Fixed some exploits in Regions relating to using key items in split screen
 * Fixed some issues with medal awarding
 * Fixed some NIS issues
 * Adjusted XP earn rate in Battle Chest events
 * Improved VFX for mouseflies for improved readability
 * Tuned down the difficulty on some of the harder Battle Chest Challenges

Stability Improvements
 * Made improvements to split screen stability
 * Made Netcode improvements – reducing the bandwidth AI was taking in Free roam regions
 * Made general improvements to online connectivity

PC
 * Added support for toggleable Anti Aliasing in Settings
 * Added HDR support, allowing players to enable/disable in Settings
 * Added video settings for cloth as well as volumetrics