It has improved a lot with the addition of toddlers, parenthood, vampires, ... They saw the complaints and decided to do something about some of them, at least that's how it felt to me. Of course, there are some stuff packs which don't actually feel like they add something, but it's up to each and every individual to decide whether they want to spend their money on it. They did drop the ball with City Living (the rental system, small amount of apartments, ...). But even that had some new features which I still enjoy today. If they had the attention for detail they put into the packs I mentioned earlier, could you even imagine what a complete and fantastic game we would have had? They've made some regrettable choices but I absolutely enjoy playing the game these days. Are there still a lot of flaws? Yes. Can I live with them? Yes. I do believe if more expansions/game&stuff packs come in the next few years, that this could turn out to be a fantastic game in the end. It's a shame we will have to wait so long and with the insecurity if the series will actually continue. It should've been a fantastic game from the very beginning but we can't turn back time so let's just see where they go with this. It will be interesting, that's for sure.
When TS3 came out, I played it and actually went back to TS2 because I disliked the new one so badly. I imagine that's how most feel about TS4 which I do happen to enjoy. I know how frustrating it gets when you feel as if a game you love is being "butchered".
7/10 and it will never get higher because of some major flaws that will remain.
