Board Thread:Plants vs. Zombies 2/@comment-26239911-20160128181203/@comment-24203813-20160128213227

So, no returning plants in Modern Day. There likely won't be new plants from here on out, aside from holiday premiums and maybe new epic quest plants. So, let's look at why plants from the first game didn't return.

Possibly because of Iceberg Lettuce's plant food ability, possibly because Popcap may consider it overpowered with PvZ 2's gameplay. Most likely because Popcap doesn't think it would work well with PvZ 2's gameplay. PvZ 2 relies on a crapton of zombies on screen at once for most of it's challenge, and being able to get rid of all of those zombies instantly kind of defeats the purpose. Obvious reasons. No fog for it to shine through. This one I'm unsure about. I can't think of any legitimate reason why popcap wouldn't bring back Pumpkin. Obvious reasons. No lawns where you can't plant. Obvious reasons. Mushrooms stay awake during the day by default now. PvZ 2 is a freemium game. Popcap doesn't want to give us a way to easily make coins. They don't want gold farming to happen. Umbrella Leaf would really only have a reason to return if it countered a new zombie, or if Catapult Zombie returned alongside it. Knowing Popcap's logic, it wouldn't counter Octo Zombie. We've got Pea Pod now, that can do the same thing for just 25 more sun. Phat Beet is probably considered by them to be it's replacement, though having a weaker version of an existing plant doesn't really prevent a stronger one from existing. Same thing as Gloom-shroom, there's someone else that they probably consider to be his replacement.
 * Ice-shroom
 * Doom-shroom
 * Sea-shroom
 * Plantern
 * Pumpkin
 * Flower Pot
 * Coffee Bean
 * Marigold
 * Umbrella Leaf
 * Gatling Pea
 * Gloom-shroom
 * Cob Cannon

All in all, Doom-shroom and Ice-shroom not returning is understandable. Pumpkin, Gloom-shroom, and Cob Cannon should come back, and have no reason not to. The rest we can do without.