What content would you like to see patched into older game packs?
With the additional of new game packs adding long desired features, such as rental properties from for rent, I'd like to see EA spend time overhauling older packs to bring them up to date and give them cross compatibility with newer packs. One such patch that I think is needed is an ingredient system for all cooking and baking. It would be compatible with all harvestables and cooking appliances and offer additional functionality (which can be toggled like the fresh and prepped ingredient system) when any pack that adds a harvestable or ingredient is owned (i. e. city living, island living, eco living, cottage living, etc). This would make cooking/baking in the game feel more realistic and reduce cost for cooking recipes. Below is a list suggested patches I'd like to see.
1. A rolled ice cream machine patch for cool kitchen. Rolled ice cream is the Thai style of making ice cream. It would complement the Indonesian theme of Tomarang.
2. A stone carving patch to complement snowy escape. The new crystal pack will introduce gemology to the game, allowing for better utilization of collectibles. Collectibles have almost no realistic functionality in the game except for the science career in GTW. In many Asian countries, they are known for hard stone carving arts, which utilize a lot of jade and gold. The new crafting system would allow for crystals and metals to be used to craft figurines and statues (which could function as aura emitters), ornamental weapons, seals, vases, fountains, etc.
3. An ikebana addon to the seasons flower arranging skill. This would also complement snowy escape as ikebana is the Japanese style of flower arranging. The game could also introduce new flower harvestables.
4. A textile crafting system and associated career with sewing and tailoring branches. This could be used to complement city living, seeing as how that's where a lot of middle eastern NPCs are generated. Many Middle Eastern countries are known for their textile industries and making exquisite carpets. There could be a loom for making textiles and sewing machine for making clothes, drapes, tablecloths, etc. You could even run a fabruc/clothing store and NPCs would come in for fittings and to have items tailored or altered.
5. A metallurgy crafting system/blacksmith career to complement the medieval theme introduced by get together and get famous. It would allow for metals to be used for crafting things like weapons, armour, shields, etc. These would be wearable CAS items like the knittables from nifty knitting.
6. Fly fishing and wood chopping patch to complement outdoor retreat. Outdoor retreat was a little disappointing. Aside from the herbalism skill, the pack didn't offer as much as I expected. I mean, it simulates camping quite accurately, but camping itself isn't that exciting. I mean, sitting around a campfire, telling stories, and roasting marshmallows is nice, but isn't outdoor retreat supposed to be an exploration pack? The hiking interaction is quite uneventful, especially compared to the mountain excursion interaction introduced by snowy escape. Hiking should trigger situation events like running into a bear (actual mammal not costumed stranger) and require the player to try and scare it off, fight it, or distract it with food. And since granite falls has so many trees, wouldn't it be nice if they had a use? For instance, an actual wood chopping interaction would allow the player to harvest trees for wood, which can be added to fireplaces, campfires, and bonfires. The wood would become an optional ingredient for woodworking recipes, allowing for cost reduction. Also, whittling recipes should be introduced. They'd use the handiness skill but wouldn't require the woodworking bench and could be completed while sitting on a stump. And fly fishing could be a granite falls exclusive activity, making it more worthwhile to vacation there. Fly fishing could require reading advanced fishing skill books and crafting fishing lures in order to perform the interaction.
7. A hunting interaction to complement cottage living and horse ranch. I like that cottage living introduced more wildlife in additional to livestock animals. However, if you actually live in a rural area, in addition to raising livestock, people often hunt in order to secure more food resources. The patch could allow for rabbithole hunting trips or an actual hunting activity. This could require the player to search for a secret portal and unlock a hidden world (like sylvan glade), where they can hunt. Hunting success would depend on fitness skill and when the player returns, they would have animal carcasses (deer, pheasant, turkey, rabbit, boar, etc) in their inventory, which could be traded for wrapped cuts.
8. A leather tanning/crafting system to complement horse ranch. Since horse ranch has a western/outback theme, I'd like to see a crafting system for fur and leather goods. Furs can be obtained via hunting activities, purchased, or received as rewards for completing community board missions. The furs can be cured and tanned and used to craft decor items or CAS wearables.
9. Coffee patch to complement jungle adventure. Since jungle adventure has a South American theme and many countries in South America are known for their coffee beans, the game should add a coffee bean harvestable. The harvestable would grow exclusively in Selvadorada, however, merchants would also sell you seed packets to take home, making it more worthwhile to vacation there. The plants can be harvested, cured, and ground and made into coffee blends. This could be paired with a barista skill that requires you to level up to unlock more coffee crafting recipes. The get together espresso bar could also be updated to function with the barista skill and allow for a new barista branch for the culinary career.
10. A cruise ship shaped apartment shell to complement Island Living. With the introduction of swimmable waterfronts added by Island Living, this would be a new way to expand upon waterfront related gameplay. There would also be additional activities to match the cruise theme such as limbo, shuffleboard, volleyball, and new drink recipes for the professional bar. I also think vacation rentals should be added to the ownable business system. This would allow for the creation of money-making resort businesses for worlds like Sulani. NPCs would take vacations just like played households and use the amenities offered in the vacation rental. The player would earn money from bookings and get money loots from NPCs using the facilities and amenities. And like the dine out restaurant system, they could advertise to increase tourism and the NPCs would leave reviews.
11. Takeaway/delivery patch for dine out. Dine out allows for the creation of dine - in style restaurant businesses. But in reality, eateries have various functions such as: drive - throughs, drive - ins, takeaway, and delivery. Dine out restaurants should be patched to reflect that. A new system would allow for the restaurant to receive call in orders for delivery or have NPCs place to go orders. There should be a management system that would allow the player to designate what features their restaurant offers. There could also be a new NPC career, delivery driver, for handling the delivery orders.
1. A rolled ice cream machine patch for cool kitchen. Rolled ice cream is the Thai style of making ice cream. It would complement the Indonesian theme of Tomarang.
2. A stone carving patch to complement snowy escape. The new crystal pack will introduce gemology to the game, allowing for better utilization of collectibles. Collectibles have almost no realistic functionality in the game except for the science career in GTW. In many Asian countries, they are known for hard stone carving arts, which utilize a lot of jade and gold. The new crafting system would allow for crystals and metals to be used to craft figurines and statues (which could function as aura emitters), ornamental weapons, seals, vases, fountains, etc.
3. An ikebana addon to the seasons flower arranging skill. This would also complement snowy escape as ikebana is the Japanese style of flower arranging. The game could also introduce new flower harvestables.
4. A textile crafting system and associated career with sewing and tailoring branches. This could be used to complement city living, seeing as how that's where a lot of middle eastern NPCs are generated. Many Middle Eastern countries are known for their textile industries and making exquisite carpets. There could be a loom for making textiles and sewing machine for making clothes, drapes, tablecloths, etc. You could even run a fabruc/clothing store and NPCs would come in for fittings and to have items tailored or altered.
5. A metallurgy crafting system/blacksmith career to complement the medieval theme introduced by get together and get famous. It would allow for metals to be used for crafting things like weapons, armour, shields, etc. These would be wearable CAS items like the knittables from nifty knitting.
6. Fly fishing and wood chopping patch to complement outdoor retreat. Outdoor retreat was a little disappointing. Aside from the herbalism skill, the pack didn't offer as much as I expected. I mean, it simulates camping quite accurately, but camping itself isn't that exciting. I mean, sitting around a campfire, telling stories, and roasting marshmallows is nice, but isn't outdoor retreat supposed to be an exploration pack? The hiking interaction is quite uneventful, especially compared to the mountain excursion interaction introduced by snowy escape. Hiking should trigger situation events like running into a bear (actual mammal not costumed stranger) and require the player to try and scare it off, fight it, or distract it with food. And since granite falls has so many trees, wouldn't it be nice if they had a use? For instance, an actual wood chopping interaction would allow the player to harvest trees for wood, which can be added to fireplaces, campfires, and bonfires. The wood would become an optional ingredient for woodworking recipes, allowing for cost reduction. Also, whittling recipes should be introduced. They'd use the handiness skill but wouldn't require the woodworking bench and could be completed while sitting on a stump. And fly fishing could be a granite falls exclusive activity, making it more worthwhile to vacation there. Fly fishing could require reading advanced fishing skill books and crafting fishing lures in order to perform the interaction.
7. A hunting interaction to complement cottage living and horse ranch. I like that cottage living introduced more wildlife in additional to livestock animals. However, if you actually live in a rural area, in addition to raising livestock, people often hunt in order to secure more food resources. The patch could allow for rabbithole hunting trips or an actual hunting activity. This could require the player to search for a secret portal and unlock a hidden world (like sylvan glade), where they can hunt. Hunting success would depend on fitness skill and when the player returns, they would have animal carcasses (deer, pheasant, turkey, rabbit, boar, etc) in their inventory, which could be traded for wrapped cuts.
8. A leather tanning/crafting system to complement horse ranch. Since horse ranch has a western/outback theme, I'd like to see a crafting system for fur and leather goods. Furs can be obtained via hunting activities, purchased, or received as rewards for completing community board missions. The furs can be cured and tanned and used to craft decor items or CAS wearables.
9. Coffee patch to complement jungle adventure. Since jungle adventure has a South American theme and many countries in South America are known for their coffee beans, the game should add a coffee bean harvestable. The harvestable would grow exclusively in Selvadorada, however, merchants would also sell you seed packets to take home, making it more worthwhile to vacation there. The plants can be harvested, cured, and ground and made into coffee blends. This could be paired with a barista skill that requires you to level up to unlock more coffee crafting recipes. The get together espresso bar could also be updated to function with the barista skill and allow for a new barista branch for the culinary career.
10. A cruise ship shaped apartment shell to complement Island Living. With the introduction of swimmable waterfronts added by Island Living, this would be a new way to expand upon waterfront related gameplay. There would also be additional activities to match the cruise theme such as limbo, shuffleboard, volleyball, and new drink recipes for the professional bar. I also think vacation rentals should be added to the ownable business system. This would allow for the creation of money-making resort businesses for worlds like Sulani. NPCs would take vacations just like played households and use the amenities offered in the vacation rental. The player would earn money from bookings and get money loots from NPCs using the facilities and amenities. And like the dine out restaurant system, they could advertise to increase tourism and the NPCs would leave reviews.
11. Takeaway/delivery patch for dine out. Dine out allows for the creation of dine - in style restaurant businesses. But in reality, eateries have various functions such as: drive - throughs, drive - ins, takeaway, and delivery. Dine out restaurants should be patched to reflect that. A new system would allow for the restaurant to receive call in orders for delivery or have NPCs place to go orders. There should be a management system that would allow the player to designate what features their restaurant offers. There could also be a new NPC career, delivery driver, for handling the delivery orders.
