When I look at all the features cut from the base of TS4, I feel like I was once swimming in a pot of gold (TS3) and then found myself in flailing about in an outhouse (TS4). Disappointed.
Should everything be included from TS3? Of course not. EA is a company & needs to expand & make money.
However when a new game is introduced as part of an amazing series, it should have major improvements as it is the 'new' game in the series.
TS4 simply does not feel like it's adding much at all with the exception of CAS and Emotions (which worry me - I do not need a plague of emotions turning my Lot into a crapfest). In TS3 EA tends to OVER KILL things... vampire plague, zombie plague, celeb/paparazzi plague...
I'll keep TS3 for gameplay until I feel TS4 actually feels like an improvement. Perhaps it WILL be once I play it for myself. But with everything I have seen via forum-gameplay videos-EA feedback I do not feel like TS4 is an amazing jump forward into the franchise.