After I started playing TS3 again after some months, yes, I feel like TS4s packs ended up being much more lacking compared to the ones from TS3.
Take World Adventures, for example. It added 3 vacation worlds, while TS4 Jungle Adventure only added 1. Well, there is another vacation world for TS4, Granite Falls, but it came in a seperate pack and doesn't contain the "adventure" element of WA and JA, that's why it doesn't really count in my book. Solely because WA had 3 vacation worlds, there was much more to explore than in the one tiny world we got in TS4. Now, what I really liked about JA was that the tombs were randomly generated, but it's not really something that made the tombs in TS3 worse. Not only were there so many the gameplay wouldn't become repetitive as fast, you were also able to just download tombs created by other players from the exchange or other sites. WA also motivated players to keep on exploring, with some tombs throughout all 3 worlds being sealed off and only being able to be unlocked by either getting the keystone during a specific quest in case of locked doors or getting pangu's axe in case of boulders blocking the way. Not even gonna mention the secret objects included in the pack, like the blessed and cursed sarcophagus which can turn sims into mummies (or heal them), or the display cases which can transform things you put on them. For the last point, I haven't really played JA, so maybe there are objects with special abilities as well?
Another example I want to speak up about is Late Night and its TS4 counterpart, City Living. Actually, you can't even call these two real counterparts. It seems like CL and GT kinda share this place along with GF. In TS3, LN added a huge neighborhood, apartments, bars, clubs and vampires, along with celebrities as its main features. Out of those features, CL only added a really tiny city world with apartments. Bars and clubs were already part of the basegame, which is a huge plus for TS4 in my opinion, while vampires came in their own pack (which I don't see a problem with either, given how well they turned out). CL tried to compensate for the lack of features with its festivals, focusing more on the city aspect while LN focused more on night life, as the name already suggests. However, even the festivals in CL are hugely flawed. After visiting them a few times, they just got repetitive. Both CL and GT should have been one pack imo. They're just lackluster as seperate packs. CL also missed the opportunity to include things like roommates, laundry or bowling, all things included in different packs you have to pay extra for.
My last example are the unnecessary stuff packs which are the biggest cash grabs I've seen in a long time. Contrary to their TS3 counterparts, stuff packs actually include new gameplay features instead of just clothes and furniture like they did in prior games. This might be a positive aspect for some, but for me, this shows what's wrong with TS4 stuff packs and is hugely problematic, simply because all these gameplay elements could have been introduced in an expansion or gamepack instead without looking out of place.
Luxury Party - base game, GT or GF
Perfect Patio - basegame (like really, what's so special about a hot tub to be included in a seperate pack for 10$? TS3 included hot tubs for the first time in Late Night and added new ones in future packs, much like TS4 did (stuff packs included), though they still don't deserve to be the only reason to buy a 10$ stuff pack
Cool Kitchen - Get To Work with the newly introduced baking skill and retail aspect would have been awesome with the ice cream maker. They could have given us the ability to open our own ice cream parlors etc
Spooky Stuff - all things you could have just waited for until Seasons came out
Movie Hangout - what's so hard about including playable cinemas in City Living? This would have actually gone well with the city life aspect they were going for
Romantic Garden - Get Together's European theme would have gone well with it
Kids Room - could have been in Parenthood (I know parenthood was released later, but as with Spooky Stuff, they could have waited for this content to include it in a bigger pack instead of charging us 10$ for one kids activity
Backyard Stuff - either Parenthood or Seasons. TS3 introduced a water slide like in Backyard Stuff in Generations, which is kinda similar to Parenhood. However, since it's obviously a summer activity, it would have gone well with the water balloon fights added in Seasons
Vintage Glamour - adds a butler NPC, which was included in Late Night from TS3. However, as for TS4, I wouldn't have put it into CL, more into GF to add to the celebrity aspect
Bowling Night - either City Living or Get Together, maybe even Discover University, looking at TS3 in which bowling was included in University Life
Fitness Stuff - to be honest, the climbing wall could have been included in the base game. In TS3, it was part of a store set I believe, though it would have also gone well with Get Together imo
Toddler Stuff - could have been part of Parenthood period.
Laundry Day - City Living would have been a good opportunity to introduce it, Discover University a good one too
My First Pet - Do I even have to tell you this? They should have renamed Cats & Dogs to Pets and included the rodents there, along with snakes, birds, lizards, horses and more...
Moschino Stuff - this is the only one I can see being a seperate stuff pack, but simply because it was a collab with a real life brand, much like TS2 H&M stuff and TS3 Diesel stuff. I just have a few gripes with a new career being included in a stuff pack. Also, the photo studio should have just been added to the existing one from GTW
Tiny Living - the murphy bed should have been included either in CL or DU, but not in a seperate pack. I didn't buy this one simply because I won't pay 10$ for a bed.
Now, to put it more bluntly:
University, bowling, laundry, groups: TS3 University Life
University, bowling, laundry, groups: TS4 Discover University; Bowling Stuff, Laundry Day Stuff, Get Together
In TS4, you buy four seperate packs for features you all had in TS3 in one seperate pack for just 40$.
Just look at this list and think about how well the seperate EPs and GPs would have been had they just included the stuff pack features in them. I am pretty sure much less people would have complained about the lack of content if they just kept the stuff packs the way they were in prior games and focused more on adding gameplay to the packs it's supposed to be in.
I know this got really long, but I just got so carried away lol
