Sims 4 Expansions, are they worth the money anymore?

@AttackofCatalx, 

I don't feel that TS4 is "a stripped down cartoony version of TS3" ..  TS4 is a different art style, but most people hated the look of the Sims in TS3!  They called them plastic, doll-like, and doughy.  I felt the females fared better in TS3, but all the males never looked how I wanted them to.  I don't have that problem in TS4! 

And TS4 is necessarily "stripped down" because  TS3 was so bloated the game didn't work! 😠  Any good qualities that TS3 had were quickly overshadowed by the game at best being incredibly jumpy and slow, and at worst grinding to a complete halt!!! 😬  I felt that TS3 was a much worse deal than TS4... TS4 I can actually play!!! 🙌  And its better to have one or two 30 second loading screens (TS4)  than to spend 20 - 40 minutes waiting for your game to start working again, only to have it advance a few frames before another waiting period! (TS3) ! 

So, yes I do think the TS4 expansions are worth it.❤️   I didn't think the TS3 expansions were worth the price, since the game didn't work.😢 Really a shame since TS3 had some great ideas. 

I enjoy Discover University for TS4 much better than University Life for TS3, but not as much as University for TS2! ❤️  But, I'm not near finished exploring what Discover University has to offer,

In TS3 most of your classes were rabbit holes just like TS4 (and TS2, for that matter).  There was a lecture you could attend with your Sim in TS3, but those were pretty boring.

As for you Sim being rejected for University, I started with a new Young Adult Sim and didn't get rejected !🤔  I didn't make it into any Distinguished courses, of course, since my Sim had no skills, but I still got in. And that is why there are 2 Universities: to give your Sims a chance at getting a distinguished degree.  Also, this gives a chance to experience 2 different types of campuses and 2 different types of college experiences science and tech versus arts and literature!  Also, by having 2 schools you have the opportunity to have school rivalries, which , at least in the United States is part of the fun of going to college!  

You don't have to live in the dorms if you don't want to, but in real life some dorms are restrictive in what you are allowed to bring into them.  Many don't allow you to burn candles or incense, for example.  Some don't allow you to put nails in the walls.  In the U.S. most dorms do not have a kitchen , so this is a direct reflection of everyone's experience in a dorm that I know. You are criticizing not the DU expansion, but the United States dorm experience! 😃   I had one friend that had a bathroom exactly like the ones at the dorms in UBrite, with the exception that all the dorms residents were female!  So the dorm bathrooms might be poorly designed, but they are realistically designed! (I also had another friend at a different school that had semi-private dorms , so that her and her roommate had a connecting bathroom with 2 suitemates.) But having one poor bed and a desk shared with a roommate is fairly standard.  If you want luxury accommodations then you can live in non-student housing or recreate the dorms to your specifications! 😎😇

Cheats do not make your game freak out and crash.  There are tons of builders who use cheats all the time with no problems. 🙌  Perhaps you are confusing cheats with Mods and Custom Content? 🤔  Mods and CC can make your game do weird things, if they are outdated, but EA didn't tell us to use Mods and CC  for Discover University.  @SheriGR  is a builder who uses cheats a lot to make her creations.  I also use several different cheats on a regular basis with no problems. Some cheats might make it difficult or impossible to complete some collections , but that won't make your game or computer freak out and crash. 🙂 
You mentioned that the cheat didn't work when you tried it.  Perhaps you mistyped it? 🤔  Just bring up the cheat box by pressing "Ctrl"+ "Shift" + "C" and then typing in the box bb.enablefreebuild and press "Enter". 😉  (don't forget the period between "bb" and "enable..."  I sometimes forget that. 🤭 )

The microwave is to be placed on the mini fridge! 😉  You don't need a kitchen to place it!  I had no problems placing the items bought in the kiosk in my dorm, since the controls to rotate the camera in Live Mode are the same as those would be in Build/Buy Mode.  Bland posters and boring rugs?  I found some very exciting posters and rugs in the collection.  There seems to be a variety of bold designs mixed in with more subtle ones. ❤️

This poster is certainly not bland: 

There are some tricks to completing your coursework in the allotted time.  If you go to the library located between the 2 universities, it has the Study Location lot trait that increases the rate at which you complete your homework, write term papers, and study! 🙌  Also, you can form study groups to also speed the rate of  homework and learning.  Finally, the more you learn the Research and Debate skill, the better you will be at all of your coursework! 🤓  If you are having trouble at first completing everything in time, then just take one or 2 classes a term, until you increase your Research and Debate skill. 😉

I don't know what you mean by :

"Theres a couple of student bars, on the older campus the bar is a really big punch in the face from Origin and EA to players who have been in it for the long run. You're provided with a beer pong table, a bar and some of the most unimaginative building layouts in the history of The Sims."

There is only one bar and it isn't on either campus but in the area between them.  So, I think you mean the Student Commons. But the poorly laid-out student commons that has the Ping-Pong/juice pong table isn't in the older campus , but on the modern one.  And while the layout is horrible and ugly, this isn't all that this location has, as upstairs it has 2 robotics stations that you can use for free! 🙌  And you don't even have to use a cheat to redesign the student commons as Build/Buy Mode can be accessed there for free!  ❤️

The Library isn't just a normal library with research machines, it also has the Study Location lot trait to boost your learning and homework speed! 😉  

But you can still redesign any building... Check out on YouTube Lilsimsie, as she is known for making the games buildings both more functional and prettier! 🥳 If you don't like to build, then you can even download her buildings and even her Save if you want to replace whole towns! 🙌

Of course real universities are more exciting -- you actually get to do the learning in a real university!  TS2's University EP was the most fun of the 3 versions we have had in the Sims, but it still can't hold a candle to the wonderful experience I had attending college in real life! 🥳🤓❤️

I found that Seasons was a game changing pack!  And it didn't have the costumes and pumpkin carving because Spooky Stuff came out years before Seasons did! To include that in Seasons would have been redundant and would have meant that something else would have not made the cut. 😞  And since Spooky Stuff had been out for so long before Seasons was released, many people already had it! 🙂  Besides, Seasons didn't give you town park events because that was already too similar to the festivals in City Living!  To make up for that Seasons gave us holidays and even the ability to craft our own holidays! 🥳

True, Strangerville doesn't have a lot of replayabiltiy, but it does give us a new town with beautiful scenery, and for builders it gives a lot of new Build/Buy items.  Personally, I use the CAS items from Strangerville a lot! For me this is worth it since I love to create new Sims!   And I totally agree that Parenthood is a fantastic GP!  (Though for people that don't like to play families, they would disagree with us!). 

I do not think they are ripping players off.  We all have access to YouTube and other places where we can see the content of each pack , both in Build/Buy & CAS items, as well as gameplay. I have bought every single EP for the original The Sims, as well as all the EPs and SPs for TS2 & TS3, and now all the EPs, GPs and SPs for TS4.  I have not regretted any pack I have bought since I have found something to like about each of them, (even the Kate Perry Sweet Treats SP from TS3 which is my least favorite pack in all of the Sims!) 😃  I know I will find something worthwhile in each pack, so I don't have to watch reviews to decide whether a certain pack is for me or not.  But since not everyone will like every pack, at least we have the ability to screen the packs before we buy them,  If a player is more skeptical, then they just will need to do some research before purchasing. 
And I think the real rip off was that horrible TS3 Store that nickeled and dimed us to death, all for a game that didn't work for most computers! 🤒😞

I think Expansions are a good price, even if they are close to the base game (and they often go on sale anyway!).  This is because I would never just want to play with the base game in any version of the Sims!  Would you just read the first book of the Harry Potter series?  You could , as its a nice story, but you would be preventing yourself the full experience. 🤔