I hope for better communication about Sims 4 DLC´s cross-compatibility.

Please, let it be clear, the reason why I write this is because my love for the Sims 4 game. And because I really think Maxis could improve. I wouldn´t be writting if I thought maxis team were unreasonable. I am hoping it reaches the right people who can make a change.

I am speaking of the general awareness of the products(DLCs) we buy. I have the feeling I don´t really know what I am buying. What are the limits of it´s capabilities inside the game (cross-compatibility).

I think, the best way to exemplify what I mean is by explainning what happened to me. Even if for me, I feel foolish and ashamed:

I play since 2022 and I love it. I love the game, I don´t think it´s perfect but is such fun game to play, I have such good memories. Since the beginning I noticed that is very much suburban focused worlds. But I personally have another lifestyle and I like to play how I see it in real life. Where I live, people livie in flats in buildings on top of commercial loft.

So when for rent apeared I bought it. I really feel it´s ground breaking pack. I have so much fun with it. I love it so much. Around the summer of 2024... I started to feel that for rent could have so much potential. Like building comertial lots on the ground floor but living upstairs. So I play tested several solutions such as this mod of littlemssam that allows you to live in business.

With the patch notes and updates this fall 2024, having that many small mods became a hustle to update every single time a new sims 4 update or patch note dropped. I spent 90% of my free time updating mods rather than playing. So I started considering to buy get to work to get rid of the hustle of updating some of my mods.

I checked way too many YouTube videos from sims 4 content creators, I checked so many reviews of the pack. I asked the community in other places. None on the community could answer me if this cross-compatibility was a possibility. To build a live in loft with for rent and get to work.

So after many months, in christmas, I took a chance. I gathered my christmas savings and bought the get to work pack. I thought to myself: If it doesn´t work, I can have the commercial loft by itself and potentially keep playing with the mod.

Get to work, despite how old it is, it was super fun! There are so many more features outside of retail system that I loved to play with.

But can you imagine my face when I saw the "Business and Hobbies" drop out? I felt tricked, I felt like a fool and worst of all. If I wanted to make my dream sims 4 world, I would have to buy yet another EP that I didn´t plan to buy. Which if I am being honest. I don´t like the cas, I don´t like the build, I don´t care much about the hobbies, the world is not my vibe. I only cared about 1 thing. Being able to build a residential lot on top of a commercial. 

Leaving aside how I feel about my particular case. I was very happy to see maxis did an in-depth gameplay trailer of the pack. Because it claryfied to me how the EP works. And I wish to see more, not only of the upcoming ones but the old ones.

I really, really, reaallly think that Maxis could improve by having us updated on the cross-compatibility of old and new dlc´s. Since, it´s not the responsability of the community to communicate such things.

My personal recommendations:

• Make more YouTube videos of gameplay that focus on mechanics. Because content creators are playing a different game. It is too much for them to keep up with every single mechanic, every single pack. Developers know the best what the DLC´s limitations are.
• Be more open about upcoming packs with greater advance. Is it really that bad to be more open with your community about which short of thing we can expect later than year?

I really don´t want to be that guy, but this whole experience really made me feel this pack should have been in cross-compatibility between For Rent and Get to work. If someone had told me this pack was coming back in December I would have waited to make a more infromed decision as to which of the two get for my needs, for my gameplay.

I really hope this reaches maxis in order to improve the communication between the company and the community. Because I am seeing a dangerous polarisation in the simmers community that could potentially destroy the game. And I do say, once again, I love the game.

Thank you.