Forum Discussion

Seasoned Ace

4 years ago

Realm of Magic Needs a Refresh, Here's Why

Realm of Magic is my favourite pack, and I play a lot with spellcasters. This means that I have noticed where there's room for improvement. In other words, I think Realm of Magic needs a refresh. There are especially four areas I think needs to be refreshed:
- Children

- Difficulty

- Spells and potions
- Preferences, Perks, Lot traits

Children

The pack has absolutely nothing for children and toddlers in CAS, and in BB there's only the bassinet for babies and one single-bed that can be used by children, there's no toddler bed, there're no toys, there's just nothing for children and toddlers.

The other thing about children is that child spellcasters have a really cute idle animation in CAS, but in-game they are simply not spellcasters at all. It makes sense that they can't learn the mischief spells and the untamed spells, because some of them can be quite dangerous, but, at least to me, it doesn't make sense that they can't use magic at all, therefore I think they should be able to learn all the practical spells except for Rite of Ascension (the ultimate practical spell). I also think that their idle animation in CAS should be used in-game (that goes for the adult spellcaster idle animation in CAS too).

I also think that child spellcasters should be able to use magic brooms.

Difficulty
When it comes to difficulty of becoming a Virtuoso (highest rank) spellcaster it goes way too fast. Especially if your spellcaster has "Always use Transportalate" turned on, because every time your sim goes somewhere they get experience points, even if they just use Transportalate to go from the kitchen to the bathroom. I think spellcasters shouldn't get a single experience point from using Transportalate. Also, it would've been nice if the difficulty could be set by the player, either in the settings or in lot challenges.

Lot challenge suggestions (if not added to settings):
- Easier for spellcasters to catch curses
- Spellcasters charging up quicker
- Spellcasters receiving experience points slower

Spells and Potions

I think Realm of Magic needs more spells and potions, especially cross-pack ones. I have looked at what we already have in other packs, and how some things could be tied to spellcasters as well. For example, there's a weather machine in Seasons, so the code for having a sim change the weather or even the season is already there, so that could be added to spellcasters too (I know you can't just copy and paste, I know that code has to be altered, I'm not trying to say this is easy, I'm just saying that it's easier than what it would've been to make from scratch). Below are my suggestions for new spells and potions, and a bunch of them are cross-pack, because as of now there's not a single cross-pack spell or potion.

Potion suggestions:
- Drain all of a sim's needs
- Make sim thin
- Make sim fat
- Make sim fit
- Age up sim
- Turn sim into ghost
- Turn sim into plantsim
- Temporarily increase the chance of twins and triplets
- Cure sickness (Get to Work)
- Make sim famous (Get Famous)
- Turn sim into mermaid (Island Living)
- Turn sim into vampire (Vampires)
- Temporarily turn sim into skeleton (Jungle Adventure)
- Make sim infected (StrangerVille)

Practical spell suggestions:

- Learn all traits of a sim

- Summon a specific sim

- Get the same emotion as another sim

Mischief spell suggestions:

- Reset the relationship between two sims
- Summon bees to attack a sim (Seasons)
- Summon sprites to attack a sim (Discover University)

Untamed spell suggestions:
- Blizzard (Seasons)
- Thunderstorm (Seasons)
- Heatwave (Seasons)
- Thundersnow storm (Snowy Escape)
- Temporarily turn sim into skeleton servant (Jungle Adventure)
- Temporarily turn sim into skeleton maid (Paranormal Stuff)

Spell suggestions that could be either Practical or Mischief:
- Clear skies (Seasons)
- Cloudy skies (Seasons)
- Snow (Seasons)
- Hot temperature (Seasons)
- Cold temperature (Seasons)

- Change the season into spring (Seasons)
- Change the season into summer (Seasons)
- Change the season into autumn (Seasons)
- Change the season into winter (Seasons)
- Turn the Eco Footprint neutral (Eco Lifestyle)
- Turn the Eco Footprint green (Eco Lifestyle)
- Turn the Eco Footprint indsutrial (Eco Lifestyle)

Preferences, Perks, Lot Traits

Likes and Dislikes suggestions:
- Magic
- Alchemy

Spellcaster perk suggestion:
- Ability to see sprites (Discover University)

Lot trait suggestions:
- On a Magical Lay Line
- Registered Spellcaster Lair
- Spellcaster Nexus

gameplay issue

18 Replies

SqueamishNerd
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
@PugLove888 A witches' hat is something I also feel is missing in this pack. I would love one that looks identical to the Spooky Stuff witches' hat BUT without the spider. I would also like to see a witches' hat that is straight, a witches' hat that is torn, and both a straight and a crooked witches' hat with a belt (all of these without a spider).
PugLove888
Hero (Retired)
4 years ago
@SqueamishNerd , yes, all good options! And that way those who got the Spooky Stuff Pack still have a unique hat since that one would be the only one with a spider! 🙂🕷🕸
MamaSimmerPlays
New Vanguard
4 years ago
Yes this! Scruberoo kids! And toddlers and babies! And pets!
Also, the artefact shaped dirt clumps from Jungle Adventure? Scruberoo those too. It wouldn't authenticate them, but it would get the caked-on dirt out of the way so the sim could either authenticate or send away for authentication.
Has anyone tried using scruberoo on the rubbish and stuff in Mua Pel'am? Scruberoo that too - it's rubbish and filth, so scruberoo should work.
Bring it on.
I don't want spellcasting to be harder, I like it where it is - but if they gave options in game settings to make it harder, I'd definitely support that. I think we need more options in game settings for a lot of pack functionality, from the skeletons not being allowed out of Omisca (I made a club and they were happy to join but they never turned up to meetings and I *wanted* a club of seven skeletons dancing in my Willow Creek living room) to the kids that ruin their character values by asking for advice if I don't stop them in time.
MamaSimmerPlays
New Vanguard
4 years ago
I think we need a basic set list of stuff that has to be included in each pack. A kitchen bench cabinet, a wall cabinet, an island bench cabinet, a two tile bar - this should be a standard set for every pack that has relevance to kitchens. Some packs would have a four tile bar as well, but if it doesn't you can put two side by side and it looks okay. But if the pack has kitchen stuff at all, it should have the complete set so you can make a full kitchen that looks coherent.
Same goes for every other type of room. And I know that people who just build for looks don't mind if the beds have low stats, but for those of us who build to play, we need a way to upgrade low stat beds so they become high stat beds - not just the current upgrade add-ons, but replacing the mattress and sheets so that any bed can become a 10/10/10 bed ... and then also doing the upgrades that are available now.
SqueamishNerd
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
@MamaSimmerPlays There are surprisingly little things we can Scruberoo, we can’t even do it on piles of dirt and on dust bins.
JonaO703
Hero
4 years ago
@PugLove888 You're right! I definitely would rather have a fairy pack. :-)
PugLove888
Hero (Retired)
4 years ago
@MamaSimmerPlays , yes, more things to use Scruberoo on would be great! (Seriously, If magic were real , that would be the most useful spell! Got company coming over... just Scruberoo! 😉 )

Yes, I hate when a bed I like has lower stats. But I also hate using beds I don't like just for the stats. This was more of a problem for me when the game was new and there were just a few packs, but there are still some people who only have a few packs. This is also why I stopped doing every new family with the "start with little money and work your way up" method because I was sick and tired of looking at the same furniture in every house I played! When I buy a new pack I want to experiment with those items, not wait a month to use them. So most of the time I use the freerealestate on cheat and sometimes use a money cheat. Only a few houses do I start with humble beginnings, but I've been doing that for 20 years so there is no reason I need to do that with every house anyway! 😅)
Actually, if they just make the upper cabinets for ROM, all of the pieces you mentioned would be included! 🥳 The reason they aren't there is because they are tied to the upper cabinets! 🤨
The only exception is the bars because those are their own thing. The problem is that people were complaining that we got bars in every pack. We were getting inundated with bars (but many of those were similar to one another, so it was understandable that people were getting tired of them. Developers should have gave us a ROM bar in the Art Nouveau style because it is soooo distinct , and they should have not given us so many bars that look like all the rest that they gave us in many packs. 😅
DarkPhoenixLady
3 years ago
It would probably be a good idea for any of the always options to stop generating xp. Maybe also make it so that you can't use an always option until your spell casting rank is higher than the spell requirements (so you'd need to be a master in order to always transportilate).
I'd also like to see always options for scrubberoo, repairio, and floralial, so that you can make a truely magical household (along with the gremlins and gnomes lot perks).
If they're updating animations, I think that adding magical cooking and cleaning animations, like they did for the cauldron, would be great too.