Board Thread:Weekly discussions/@comment-18464102-20180706151054/@comment-36051859-20180711224852

PvZ 2 and its follow up games had the potential to be good, but I don't like the direction the series is headed.

All the microtransaction BS hurt pretty bad, as did some of the very poorly designed levels of PvZ2 (seriously, Wild West level 35 and Ancient Egypt level 34 need serious reworks). All of these badly designed levels really made my playing experience frustrating.

I found PvZ2 frustrating, and beating it completely (like the extra levels of Ancient Egypt) with level 1 plants was nothing more than a form of torture. Although the earlier levels were fairly maangeable with some basic strategy, the later levels were little more than hell. I disliked how frustrating it was – I do enjoy a challenge, but I want a challenge where the intended solution is not to spend money on the game, but to use your brain instead. But I beat it anyways, so who's the loser now. (I guess me still, because I wasted all that time.)

I also don't like the way PvZ encourages grinding on their games, be it for seed packets and coins in PvZ2 or for card packets in PvZ Heroes. The clear motivation is money, be it from you paying for the goods or be it from you rolling (not necessarily watching) the advertisements. Much like what Sup Erc Ell does with their games (minus the ads).

There are some people out there who say the games aren't that bad, that you can get all the stuff for free given enough time. Fine. But I don't think the game is for me anymore. The art looks great, the gameplay's great, but I find the business actions behind the scenes to be too much for me. All the ads, the grinding, and micro-transactions, it really drained my sanity.

If you're able to put up with it and still have fun with the game despite these things, fine, I'm not saying that you shouldn't play the game. You play what you want. But these games, I really don't like the direction they're headed. And it seems the majority of buyers agree with me – they all agree the games are fun, but the emphasis on micro-transactions was what drove them away. And it seems to be showing – PvZ Heroes's downloads weren't even close to PvZ2's downloads or PvZ1's downloads, which seems to suggest more and more people are just abandoning the series entirely. The proliferation of ads on the games – presumably to act as a revenue source in the absense of customers – seems to back up this point.

Maybe EA can shape up their act and learn from their mistakes, like they did from Star Wars: Battlefront 2. But it's too early for me to say for certain that EA has fully repented. I will say for now, I don't like the direction the series is headed.

TL;DR: If you like it, keep playing. Nothing wrong with that. But a lot of people are getting tired of this nonsense with micro-transactions and grinding, and pay-to-win, and they're leaving the game for good. The majority of people sticking around are little children, and it shows. Maybe EA can shape up their future, but for now I don't like the direction the game is headed.