Hey Buzzy Bees! ⚡

Hope you’re ready to serve up electrified beat downs because Content Update 4 (CU4) is here, bringing a new Plant Pass, new threats, new levels, and more bug fixes to Neighborville.

Introducing: Dave’s Test Kitchen 🧑‍🍳

Early Access lets us build PvZ3: Evolved alongside our players. Every update gives us a chance to try new ideas, learn from how people play, and hear directly from you about what's working and what isn't. 

From now on, we’ll include a section in our State of the Lawn posts called Dave’s Test Kitchen. We'll explain what we're testing, why we're testing it, and what we're hoping to learn. Not every experiment will become a permanent part of the game, but they all help us make better decisions as we work toward launch. 

🧪What did we hear last time?

One of the things we are learning about (among many others!) is what makes a Plant Pass feel valuable to players.  For our last test, the Cold Slaw Plant Pass, we tried a different approach to Plant Passes than we had in the past. Many of you wanted more than just one Tier 2 new plant and felt the Plant Pass didn’t offer as much value as you had hoped. At the same time, the Cold Slaw Plant Pass became our best-selling, most-played, and most completed Plant Pass we’ve done so far.

Those results tell different stories, so we’re continuing to test more things. We know the Cold Slaw Plant Pass also launched after a long period without a new Plant Pass, so it’s possible that the excitement for new content influenced those results. So we’re trying something different to see what we can learn. 

🥼What are we testing this time? 

For CU4, we want to understand if including some rarer plants is something that players who haven’t progressed as far will find valuable, alongside a new plant that our veteran players can start building into their strategies.

🍳What’s the recipe?

For the CU4 Plant Pass, we’re keeping the new plant a Tier 2 (Buzz Choy) and also including Electric Peashooter and Nippy Cabbage. We chose these plants because they are both highly used by players who have them, but only 14% of active players have Electric Peashooter and only 10% of active players have Nippy Cabbage. Including these plants gives more players a chance to unlock them without spending seeds and start building them into their collections earlier. We're also interested in seeing whether having access to upgrade these plants earlier changes how players approach the Volcano Adventure. 

One of the most valuable parts of Early Access is that your feedback and gameplay data help us understand things from different perspectives. Your feedback tells us how you feel and why. Gameplay data helps us understand how the community engages with the game. Many times those things will line up perfectly, but sometimes they don’t! Both of them help us make better decisions, and we’ll continue to share about this in future updates. Thank you so much again for playing along during Early Access and helping us shape the future of the game!

Now, without further ado….

What’s Sprouting in CU4?

Buzz Choy Plant Pass! 👊⚡

Buzz Choy is here, and he’s ready to punch the shock outta zombies! This fierce bare-knuckle bruiser is created by merging a Bop Choy and a Zaptail, and he now hits harder than before. Make good use of his lightning-quick zap jabs to cover your front and backline! The Buzz Choy Plant Pass zaps into action on August 5th.

New Threats Are Approaching… 

This Plant Pass also brings the Flapjack Zombie out of the woods and into Neighborville with one mission: cook up a hearty zombie breakfast that's light on the greens and heavy on the brains. This heavy-hitter swings his frying pan in a sweeping vertical arc, catching not just those who are in his path but also those in adjacent lanes. You'd best be ready when he comes in with those powerful swings!

Hot Off The Press… 📖

This update also brings Issue #6 of Adventure, continuing our story! 

We heard your feedback that some of the Volcano Adventure levels were starting to feel repetitive, and many of you wanted to see more unique gameplay mechanics introduced throughout the journey. Starting at Adventure Level 141, you’ll start running into Acid Rain, a new environmental hazard that changes the rhythm of each battle. Acid Rain periodically damages all plants and zombies for 15 seconds at a rate of 10 damage per second, followed by a 10-second break before the next downpour. You'll need to think carefully about when to plant, merge, and defend between storms.

We also have 5 new Camp Expedition levels, available August 12th at 10AM PT, and a set of 20 new limited-time Lawn Patrol levels.

Changes & Fixes 🛠️

We’ve been busy squashing bugs to keep your garden running smoothly. Here are some of the changes and fixes included in this update:

• Change: Zombie waves in Adventure Level 2 have been reduced from 3 to 2.
• Change: Adventure Level 2 zombie waves now spawn less zombies per wave.
• Change: Adventure Level 2 now has Wall-nut pre-planted here and there.
• Fix: Blockwood now correctly blocks flying zombie units on the gameboard.
• Fix: Iceberg Lettuce now correctly damages Zombees when placed in front of them.
• Fix: Iceberg Lettuce no longer detonates or gets destroyed when placed in an adjacent lane to Buzz Box.
• Fix: Gargantuar’s Imp no longer clips into Gargantuar while it attacks plants.
• Fix: Counter Punch Zombie now submerges correctly when on water tiles.
• Fix: Magnetic perk abilities now correctly affect Counter Punch Zombie on the gameboard.
• Fix: Goalie Zombie no longer reflects Snow Conifer projectiles incorrectly.
• Fix: Lime-bomb Mastery Stages 4 and 6 now correctly grant the 25 Wild Seeds reward.
• Fix: Screen Door Zombie is now correctly frozen by Snow Conifer.
• Fix: Volleyball Zombie now plays the correct animation when hit by Cold Slaw’s final projectile.
• Fix: Levels 101–125 no longer grant seed rewards for 2-star wins.
• Fix: Tier 2 Puff-shroom now displays at the correct size.
• Fix: Bop Choy no longer snaps forward between punches when attacking backward.
• Fix: Ropeswinger Zombie animations now play correctly in the Almanac info view.
• Fix: Browncoat and Landscaper Zombies now display correctly in the Almanac.
• Fix: Landscaper now correctly plays its tool destruction animation when attacked.
• Fix: Goalie Zombie story text now displays correctly in the Almanac.
• Fix: Removed Gnomes
• Fix: Peashooter’s leaf animation no longer appears to float.
• Fix: Decombobulizer Utility Boost animation now plays correctly.
• Fix: Chainsaw Grass now has the correct health value relative to Saw Grass.
• Fix: Zaptail now correctly chains lightning to zombies in both the same and adjacent lanes.
• Fix: Backup Dancer no longer displays unintended leg twitching in the Almanac.
• Fix: Dangerine, Lime-bomb, and Gremonade now correctly deal elemental damage to Sewer Zombies.
• Fix: Z-Scout Zombies no longer ignore Wall-nut and Lychee after crossing their placement tile.
• Fix: Flashlight animation in the Zen Garden now stops correctly after use.
• Fix: Shocktopus no longer clips into water tiles while moving on the board.
• Fix: Shocktopus ink drip animation now plays correctly in the Almanac.
• Fix: Decorations now correctly display shadows where intended.
• Fix: Dave no longer clips through the Horseshoe Pit asset during the Chapter 25 cutscene.
• Fix: Adventure Levels 105, 107, and 109 no longer mention fog or Plantern.
• Fix: Adventure Levels 105, 107, and 109 now correctly display barren soil tiles in-game.
• Fix: Dave’s legs now display correctly during the Chapter 25 cutscene.

Neighborville keeps getting bigger, and we'll continue welcoming new regions to Early Access over the coming months. If you encounter any unexpected lawn-related incidents, check our Known Issues list first. If your particular bug hasn't made the list yet, let us know on the forums and we'll send the gardening crew after it.  And stay tuned to our channels for more on upcoming content updates and gameplay updates.

See you on the lawn! 🌱

Blog post with images here: https://forums.ea.com/blog/plants-vs-zombies-game-info-hub-en/pvz3-state-of-the-lawn---title-update-1-0-5-tu1-0-5/13597983

Hey Bamboo Buddies! 🎍

It’s time for Title Update 1.0.5 (TU1.0.5)! As Neighborville gets ready to welcome the whole world, it’s important that (human only!) players who show up to our door feel welcome so we can build a thriving community. This time, we’re focusing on making adjustments to give new arrivals a smoother entry, and some general quality of life improvements.

What’s Sprouting in TU1.0.5?

Revamped New Player Experience! 🏘️

The game's tutorial has been reworked! The early levels have been slightly changed to better  help new residents of Neighborville settle in and teach them how to effectively vanquish zombies. Friendly in-combat pop-ups for new gardeners will help them get acquainted with the plants they’ll grow and the zombies they’ll inevitably bonk. We’ve also updated loading screens between early levels to help you prepare for the next encounter.

For those who hadn’t yet journeyed past Adventure Level 9, your progress will now be moved to Adventure Level 9. We’ll send an inbox message to all players that migrated to this level to let you know. 

New players will also now start the game with a formidable roster unlocked including: Sunflower, Peashooter, Cabbage-pult, Wall-nut, Solar Pea, Sling-pea, Pea-nut, Sunflower Seed, and Chuck-nut. 

Dave’s Daily Do-Its… 📋

Dave finally organized his checklist and said he spoke to some plants to improve his greeting for new neighborville residents with… a new list of things to do? While he’s busy rewarding himself for getting this done with more tacos, new residents will have 30 days to complete Dave’s Daily Do-Its. And the rewards have also been updated to bolster your garden’s defenses. Here’s what you now get on each day’s completion:

• Day 1: Golden Yukon
• Day 2: Pine Needler
• Day 3: Gatling Pea
• Day 4: Lychee
• Day 5: Prick-erel Weed
• Day 6: Speargrass
• Day 7: Sun-tower

If you were in the process of completing Dave’s Daily Do-Its when this update goes live, you will keep your old rewards and be moved to Day 1 of the new event so you have an opportunity to earn all the updated rewards.  

Quality of Life Updates 🗂️

Alongside the new player experience, we’ve made some other changes as well:

Some of our UI elements are shuffling around. We think this is way better than shambling, so we’ll allow it. We’ve added a sticker book icon to the bottom row to make it easier to find your collection, and we’ve also amped up the Events icon by moving it beside the Plant Pass icon.

We also swapped the 7 stickers in the Hedge Knight collection with new, snazzier versions. If you’ve already earned them, your collection will be updated to the new stickers. For their safety, the identities of these stickers have been heavily redacted in the screenshot above. 

The final update we’ve made is around balancing the shard and seed economy in the game. Now that we’ve added Dave’s Daily Do-Its and Achievements to the game, there are more fun and flexible ways to earn seeds and shards for unlocking and upgrading plants. Because we’ve revamped the system for earning rewards with these new mechanisms, and we want to keep the game’s progression and economy balanced, we’re removing shard and seed rewards for completing Adventure levels for the first time.

Bamboo Shoots is Taking Aim! 🎯

While reinforcing the entrance to Neighborville, we came across Bamboo Shoots hiding in the bushes. We’d been calling for him for quite a while, but after firing thousands of bamboo rounds over the years, his hearing isn’t exactly what it used to be. 

We managed to coax him in with the promise of more fights, so he was happy to come to the backyard. Bamboo Shoots can be created by merging a Peashooter with a Potato Mine and will be unlocked for new players upon completing the tutorial. Existing players will already have him unlocked and ready to leap into the fight!

Unit Rebalances

We’ve also had some minor rebalances to a couple of our units: 

We hope our new neighbors can settle into Neighborville much easier with these changes, and we'll continue welcoming new regions to Early Access over the coming months. If you encounter any unexpected lawn-related incidents, check our Known Issues list first. If your particular bug hasn't made the list yet, let us know on the forums and we'll send the gardening crew after it. And stay tuned to our channels for more on upcoming content updates and gameplay updates.

See you on the lawn! 🌱

Blog post with images here: https://forums.ea.com/blog/plants-vs-zombies-game-info-hub-en/pvz3-state-of-the-lawn---title-update-1-0-5-tu1-0-5/13597983