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EA's on a roll!: New PvZ 2 update

R

Rodney McKay

Member
With the recent Dungeon Keeper release, EA continues to prove they can do no wrong with mobile games with a recent update I just downloaded for Plants Vs. Zombies 2!

The update description for the update mentions that Dr. Zomboss is back for a new boss fight and also there's a new snowball power, both of which are true. Zomboss appears to be back as a final boss in each level, which I played and it was OK, but pretty much required that I use the coin powers to win, which is never satisfying (always feel like cheating). Also for some reason I appear to have 257 keys which don't appear to have any use other than unlocking new worlds, and there's only one still remaining (future world, which I assume is in an upcoming update or DLC).

During the fight, I lost a few lawnmowers, which is no big deal in a PvZ game, right? They'll be there in the next level I play... right?
WRONG!
With this new update, you now have to purchase lawnmowers to replace them one at a time, and the lost lawnmowers are gone on ALL levels, not just the super hard boss fight where I lost 5/6 of them. They cost about 2000 coins which is A LOT (unless they rebalanced the coin accumulation, which I highly doubt).

But hey, don't worry too much because now you can get up to 200,000 coins!... if you can get 5 Facebook friends to accept an invite when you "Send them Zombie Brainz." As I don't want to irritate my friends, I haven't tried this to see how it works, nor will I.

So in summary:
Good:
-New boss
-Snow power replaces the crappy "pinch" power which rarely worked right (haven't tried the new power since it's expensive)

Bad:
-Lawnmowers require a large amount of coins to respawn (2000).
-Bribes of coins if you agree to advertise the game on Facebook (you only get prizes if your friends accept, not even for just sending out the spam).

In typical fashion, an update that makes one step forward and two steps back. Bravo, EA!
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
While I'm certainly mixed on this, the loss of lawnmowers is not like them locking out gameplay modes or anything.

As for the "bribes"? Companies have been doing that since social media was invented. Complaining that you need to use social media to get something you were never gonna use in the first place (or can get by simply putting up with making a post) is lame. You don't need to do it.
 
I

Into

Member
EA is going for that three peat of winning worst company in the world, in the recent months they have performed Jordan-esque, unstoppable
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Still playing the original PvZ when i feel like it - wont even touch PvZ2.
 
Gormless Noodle

Gormless Noodle

Member
I don't understand how people can keep giving their money to these cretins. I'm convinced it must be some sort of Stockholm syndrome by now.
 
Liamario

Liamario

Banned
I'd love to say I'm surprised.... Absolutely revolting. Take note, this isn't how you do microtransactions.
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
Pretty disgusting, but isn't this pretty much par for the course with F2P games? The Facebook thing is a nuisance, but it is effectively giving you something for nothing if you get it to work. I dunno. This kind of shit is why I don't bother with F2P games at all.
 
I

Into

Member
People have bad ideas all the time, i get that, but how does shit like this pass through all the channels? How is there not a single person raising their hand in that company?

I work in a far smaller company, smaller in every concieveable way, and to get anything passed it has to go through several people to even be considered. These fuckers seem like they are trying to outdo themselves in pure douchiness on a daily basis.
 
E

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
Never played PvZ, just know roughly how it's played. Can somebody elaborate what the change in mechanics means?
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
I'm grateful we'll always have the original PvZ, unsullied by EA's bullshit.
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
HP_Wuvcraft said:
As for the "bribes"? Companies have been doing that since social media was invented. Complaining that you need to use social media to get something you were never gonna use in the first place (or can get by simply putting up with making a post) is lame. You don't need to do it.
Click to expand...
Since you seem informed of how getting to 2000 coins is not worth complaining about, how long does it exactly take during regular gameplay?

No game I have purchased has integrated Facebook quite in an intense way like this, so I feel wrong about this even if other companies have done something similar.
 
S

ScreenSplitter

Member
Triggerhappytel said:
Pretty disgusting, but isn't this pretty much par for the course with F2P games? The Facebook thing is a nuisance, but it is effectively giving you something for nothing if you get it to work. I dunno. This kind of shit is why I don't bother with F2P games at all.
Click to expand...
If it was random Facebook bullshit game it'd be fine, but it's a sequel to an excellent game.
 
R

Rodney McKay

Member
Tekkie said:
I don't understand how people can keep giving their money to these cretins. I'm convinced it must be some sort of Stockholm syndrome by now.
Click to expand...

Looking back over the last year, I was happy to find that I didn't buy a single EA game. I've played a lot of PvZ 2 but haven't spent a cent, but other than that I don't think I bought a single one of their games since Mass Effect 3.

I completely hate how EA managed to mangle PvZ 2. It's such a great sequel in a lot of ways (graphics, new plants, new zombies, new stages, new mini-games, fun plant food mechanic), but when I go back to PvZ 1 I see what a shitshow this is in comparison. That game has so much better balance, better progression, and you get the whole game for just a few bucks. Yes the mobile version of that lets you buy coins too, but it's handled SO much better than in the sequel. You get all the coins you need to unlock everything as you would in the original versions and the progress is satisfying.
 
EviLore

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
ElTorro said:
Never played PvZ, just know roughly how it's played. Can somebody elaborate what the change in mechanics means?
Click to expand...

In PvZ, zombies creep toward your base in each of five lanes, and if a zombie reaches you, a lawnmower at your base is activated in that lane which kills the zombie and gives you a second chance. If a zombie reaches your base in a lane where a lawnmower has already been activated, you lose the level. Lawnmowers refresh across all retries and new levels.

This update changes the mechanics so that when a lawnmower is activated, you lose that lawnmower forever, across all levels and attempts, unless you spend a large amount of gold. You'll probably only have enough for 1-5 extra lawnmowers before you run out and have to either play an effectively much harder game or spend real money to replenish your gold (or send out chain letter spam to your Facebook friends, apparently).
 
J

jetsetrez

Member
I thought their CEO was saying they were aware of the perception of them, and they didn't want to be on that worst company list again? It's like they said "fuck it, not only do I want to be on that worst company list, but I want to be so scummy that they make it the honorary 'EA Presents: The Worst Company in America' list" for all time.
 
R

Rodney McKay

Member
HP_Wuvcraft said:
While I'm certainly mixed on this, the loss of lawnmowers is not like them locking out gameplay modes or anything.

As for the "bribes"? Companies have been doing that since social media was invented. Complaining that you need to use social media to get something you were never gonna use in the first place (or can get by simply putting up with making a post) is lame. You don't need to do it.
Click to expand...

They completely changed a core mechanic to get you to buy coin packs, it's as simple as that. Now I probably lost about 3 lawnmowers over the course of the entire game (mainly because so many stages are an auto fail if a zombie gets that far, with or without a lawnmower). For people that do find these games to be more difficult and rely on the lawnmowers, I'm positive that this update will lock them out of later levels if they choose not to pay.

In the boss fight I lost all but one of the Lawnmowers which would require about 10000 coins in order to replace them. I've beaten the entire game with as little use of the powerups as possible and I only had about 5,000 coins saved up. Doing the pinata parties gives you the chance to win a decent amount, but with all the systems in the game that now require you use coins on, even as many as 10,000 can be gone in the course of a single difficult stage.
 
B

BPoole

Member
Jesus Christ. I was really advocating for people to not vote EA for Worst Company in America, but holy shit, it's like they bend over backwards to make sure that they win.
 
F

FreddieQuell

Member
Nome said:
Uh, I see nothing wrong here?
Click to expand...

kIgdYsQ.gif


And not directed at you, but why do people still buy games from this shit company? They are literally the worst company in gaming.
 
C

cardinalmind

Member
I feel dirty getting hyped about Titanfall. Or even the next Mirror's Edge. I want to try them but these policies made me happy that I don't.
 
F

Fox_Mulder

Rockefellers. Skull and Bones. Microsoft. Al Qaeda. A Cabal of Bankers. The melting point of steel. What do these things have in common? Wake up sheeple, the landfill wasn't even REAL!
I remember when PvZ used to be a good game. Then EA
 
N

Nome

Member
EA following prevailing mobile gaming trends somehow makes them even worse than before?

This is more fanboy rage than anything else.
 
S

SneakyStephan

Banned
Microtransactions and pay2win and as alternative nagscreens and trying to turn the players into some kind of viral marketers

I can't decide which is worse, so why not both.gif
They're both WORSE
 
K

Keyouta

Junior Member
Mind boggling how they're destroying the series on only its second game. The first was so good.

At least the tps looks great.
 
D

Darmik

Member
I can't wait to see how they handle the Star Wars IP. I remember that brief period when EA tried to improve. I suppose their profit margins have truly killed any chance of them trying again.
 
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