What to buy with 990 sim points?

That is a very sensible solution!

I ended up completing a set that was massively discounted, then got super lucky that the daily deal's May 2012 compilation ended up free -- I think since I had all the Gothique stuff from it, I didn't *need* to purchase anything else to get it for free. I didn't really understand how that all worked, but I think I'm getting it, and will be checking in on other compilations that go on sale.

What I invested the rest of my simpoints in was the Animals Abound Outdoor set, after learning that that purchase nets you TWO children compilations. I still have 100 sim points, that I think I'm hoping will be enough to get some more sales, since I had way more one-off items than I first thought.

Another thing you could do is play the game for a day, or session, and note what you wish you had more of or anything in particular you'd like to look for in The Store, then go and find that, then go from there. And perhaps keep some in reserve for those times in-game when you wish you had some.

I love it when you post.

You don't have to like my post because I don't care about likes... I care about posts that help simmers. 🙂

KCNDreams  You can use the EA Wallet funds with any purchase through the EA App, including SimPoints.  (That's how I've bought points every time.)  I think you can only combine EA Wallet funds with a credit card though, not PayPal.

MMAO can be great but only rarely.  For me, the problem has been that it usually includes at least one full set, at its full price, which makes the deal worse than if I used the Daily Deal and other strategies to buy all the items separately.  But I do occasionally see a MMAO option with only single items, that aren't on sale, for enough of a discount that makes it worth purchasing.  It just takes time and luck.

I also bought a few worlds through MMAO for ~30% off, factoring in paying full price for the other items offered with the world.  That doesn't help when you only have 990 points, but if you do buy more and want a world or two, it's a viable strategy to avoid paying, say, 3,500 points for Midnight Hollow Gold.

Thank you so much for explaining, I really appreciate it! I had read about getting sets for free, but I don't think any of it sunk in the first time. Thank you!!

I've also been trying out the MMAO, but haven't seen any good deals. The prices are often in the thousands, as well. I'm really not sure if I'm sane or not for considering to buy more points. I still have money in my EA Wallet, apparently, but too little to do anything with ($2). As far as I'm aware, I can use it on any EA store item?

KCNDreams  Take a look at this thread:

Cheapest way to own compilation/sets/venues! | EA Forums - 1857088

Search for oh my goth , or just scroll down, and you'll see the cheapest way to acquire it if you own nothing from it already.  But you do own the Multi-Tab, so you're partway there.  The next questions, it looks like, are how many items you own from Technophobe No More and the May 2012 compilation, or rather how many points those items are worth at full price.  That determines whether you can buy either of the two sets at a cheaper price than Oh My Goth, which does not go on sale but has enough overlap with May 2012 that if you own the latter, the former is free.

I'm not suggesting you buy the items listed in the link above, only that it's a good way to get a sense of how you might proceed here.  For what you own, there may be a better path.

What I do in these situations is I add up the points of the items I own in a set and compare them to the lowest sale price of the set.  If the points from the items I own are higher than the sale price, the set will be free for me when it goes on that sale.  Otherwise, I would pay 90% of the difference when the set is on sale, i.e. if my items are 100 points short of that lowest sale price, I'd pay 90 points to complete the set.  Then I can look at the items I don't own in the set and see whether any of them are on sale at any point; if they are, I can buy enough to lower or erase the gap between what I own and the sale price.

If you want more specific help, let me know what you own in these sets (you don't need to link; just a list will do), and I can compare it to the available Daily Deal sales.

puzzlezaddictHi, and thank you so much for yoru guidance and help with various issues! It's very appreciated.

1. I hadn't thought about using Retuner, thank you!

2) So, I've been looking through the spreadsheet for the daily deal, and checking out the big thread (sorted by new), and at the CYS, and while I think I've understood it, I do have questions. It seems like buying one item in the sets that qualify for CYS, and then whether it's on sale or daily deal, but preferably both, you can get a better deal? From what I've seen the DD cycles through every couple months, as well, and certain prices are better than others, and may very well be worth waiting for?

3) I have a specific set I'm not sure how best to get. I seem to be 56% complete on the Oh My Goth! Set, and the price is 240sp. What I'm missing is the Gothique Living+Bedroom, and the Steampunk Savvy outfits. The Gothic Living room is on sale, and  it does seem like they show up in the DD rotation.

https://store.thesims3.com/setsProductDetails.html?categoryId=&scategoryId=13516&index=0&productId=OFB-SIM3:50552&pcategoryId=&ppcategoryId=13515

https://store.thesims3.com/setsProductDetails.html?scategoryId=13516&index=0&productId=OFB-SIM3:19275

KCNDreams  If you list the items you'd like, maybe someone can figure out whether there's a cheaper way to get at least some of them.  For example, when you own the greenhouse set, I believe the Best of 2012 compilation is almost free on the Daily Deal.  (You might want to buy one other item in the compilation, on a steep Daily Deal discount; let me know if this is relevant to you and I'll dig up the details.)  So even if you have no cheap way to directly buy other items in that compilation, you'd still get them for very few points.

I agree that some premium items are extremely overpowered.  NRaas Retuner can help with a lot of this in that many OP values can be tuned.  Some items are fun anyway, or their overpowered nature doesn't otherwise affect gameplay—who cares if your sims are level 10 in glassblowing; it doesn't have any bearing on the rest of their lives.  I especially enjoy items that add new skills for this and other reasons.  Some CAS and BB items are nice too, especially for people who don't want to use custom content, but I could do without too much of it.

Thank you so much! I hadn't realized there was a list going through the daily deals. Great. 

I've been looking through some of the items, and it seems like a lot of the ones I'd like aren't part of the "Complete My Set" deal. It's kinda unfortunate, but I think I'll see if they're affected by Daily Deals. Premium items don't seem to be affected by deals too often, even with Make Me an Offer. Thoughts on premium items that add decent gameplay?

Thank you so much. I got it figured out, and hopefully working. I spent the past few hours remembering how to get the GPU recognized, and install mods. If only I could figure out what's going on with my EA profile! 

Compliations was a great suggestion; unfortunately a lot of my favorite stuff doesn't qualify for completing my set, but oh well.

I have a question for you, do you prefer getting venues/clothing/hair, or items that add new gameplay? I have some of the gameplay items, such as the greenhouse and tablet, and the toddler's playpen. While I really enjoy them for grinding out skills, they are quite overpowered! It's also hard to judge whether an item will actually add a decent amount of gameplay, or if it's more of a novelty?