Are You Buying Growing Together?

I'm not sure how much more I want to invest in The Sims 4, both time and money, because I feel that it's not giving me a lot back and the game feels really old now for me. I booted it up yesterday and I had forgotten how poorly the game actually runs compared to other games that I have played recently.

I feel that my sims have overstayed their welcome and I don't really have the patience to repeat everything that we have gone through with lifestyles, sentiments, wants & fears... I'm going to be honest, based on what we have seen from previous years, I am expecting this pack to be a disaster at launch and it feels like EA/Maxis have become too comfortable to improve this and I also don't want to experience the same things again, over and over again since 2014.

So I'm probably just going to watch this one from the back row, and see what happens. It's not a definitive "no, I will never buy this pack" it's more like, "I'm not sure." the issue is not with the actual pack, it's with the whole game and the fact that it's 8+ years old.

Technically haven't preordered it yet but I will have it preordered before the pack is released. I usually preorder all the expansion packs and most of the game packs. However, this one is the one I am most excited about having my hands on. So much so that I am having a hard time going forward playing my game because the new elements in this game pack change so much. I want those milestones and memories for my family.

Like with all things Sims 4, I will wait to see what bugs are in the pack at release.

I do think the new personality systems "sound" good, but since we saw next to nothing about how they actually work in the live stream and I'm EXTREMELY leery of anything the devs implement, it's a wait and see for me. They have a serious track record of overkill .... any system they add is at full max (and typically makes absolutely no sense for a good majority of the sims).

I don't need another system that I have to wait for a modder to fix and tune the system to behave in a realistic way (or shut it off).

Plus I'm EXTREMELY irritated by the fact this "enhanced personality" system is locked behind paid content, when the majority of simmers have been complaining and begging for better sims since the beginning. I feel like anything added that improves the way a sims behave and autonomous behavior is a CORE FEATURE and should have been in the game from the start, not locked behind a paywall so those people who can't afford another $40 pack is stuck with the horrid AI of the existing sims!

I also did not see a lot of new "stuff" for my sims to do that match my personal play style.

My sims are typically immortal (I play with aging off) and I normally only play a handful of families that have kids (and those are normally toddlers, because I have a toddler in my house in RL, so I'm used to that).

I don't care for playing kid sims and only do on a rare occasion. So them learning to ride bikes is not a big deal to me, them getting to have pillow fights is another mehhh for me.

Plus, I can't help but feel like they deliberately omitted these activities for kids to do when DU and HSY were released, because they had plans to add those abilities to this EP from the beginning to help entice people to buy.

I also know that I will never ever use that tree house either, it's too ginormous, I don't play on large lots.

And, I'm not really impressed by even more "game table" games .... why couldn't there have been shuffleboard or something like that instead for the elders. Is the power walk tied to this world? From the livestream I got that feeling it was since there's 3 new paths they can walk on.

Why are there no close by neighbors in the residential neighborhood? Instead there's like 5 houses in that block are fake.

I'm irritated by the amount of set dressing in this world that the devs felt were needed to created "their" vision, instead of allowing players to make the world their own. It will be another world that I never use besides possibly visiting for the splash pad, that's it.

The food stall and piano in the middle of the city is not an enticement for me to visit.

So yeah, overall impression for me personally is it's just ok.......just another movie set backdrop (like most worlds in TS4) for players to take pictures in and pretend there's stuff to do in the world.

I will get it eventually because I do like more BB/CAS items, but this pack didn't wow me.

I'm a completionist so yes, I will get this pack and I do want the extra content. Not looking forward to the expectant bugs and having to put my main save file on hold--as I am finally again starting to play it again--and then having to wait for a patch to fix it and/or fix mods to make it playable without breaking stuff.

I am not a huge family player as I prefer to play with the teen and up life-stages but I am a generational player so having something added for the younger generations appeal to me. I also hope there is something new for the elders. I haven't watched the live stream yet so I don't know much about this besides what the trailers have showed us. Besides, I like being surprised.

Yes, when any bugs that I'd find annoying have been fixed. :)

As soon as my essential mods are updated, I will purchase

I'm disappointed with the world size, but I also want more family related activities, which seems to look promising in this pack.

I’m honestly super excited for this pack, and already preordered! That said, it releases in the midst of my spring break when I’ll be on a trip, so I won’t be able to play when it first releases. I’m honestly so excited, this almost overshadows my spring break.

I have already bought it. I can't wait till release day.

I already pre-ordered. I have never gotten over the fear from cottage living bike fiasco when it didn't show up in my account. Nor the fact that the family portrait kept going in and out of my owned content. Idk if it's even there anymore.

I refuse to miss any more content. If the content was available without a time limit i might've waited. But this way it's already paid for. That aside I'm not installing until all my mods update. I will watch the early access as soon as those come out. And then all the simmers who experience the bugs.

Though I do wonder if anyone will actually end up playing it in the 1st few weeks other than modders and those youtubers. Because I feel like after the Wedding, Werewolves, and High School Years fiasco, no regular simmers are gonna touch the pack until the all clears come. And then wait another week or so after that.

One giant patch, plus an EP, I'll play in April.