Some times DLC is criticized for being too focused on one specific aspect of game play (e.g. "They made an entire pack about vampires!?"). Other times, DLC is criticized for lacking depth (e.g."They spent all that effort on careers and festivals, but they couldn't make apartments that we could place?! And why do I have to go through a loading screen to visit the apartment next door?!"). I was reflecting on the difference between Sims 2 Open for Business and Sims 4 Get to Work. Open for Business only comes with a shopping district and game mechanics for running a business. Get to Work came with both of those things, along with aliens and three active careers. If the tables were turned, with Get to Work a Sims 2 DLC and Open for Business a Sims 4 DLC, Open for Business would probably have been excoriated by the Sims community as a shocking cash grab. All the same, I personally think Open for Business is the better expansion pack of the two because it has much more depth. What do you think? Would you rather see DLC that gives a thorough treatment to a specific theme or aspect of game play, or do you prefer DLC that provides a mix of features?

Lol, I so wanted to opt for the random kit comment ?

So deep it would require completely seperate games. *A Sims game with no occults. *A sci-fi game including the aliens. *A fantasy-horror game with the vampires and werewolves. *A fantasy game with the spellcasters, mermaids, etc., etc..This way they could build better background stories, the world itself and make the occults themselves much different from regular sims. The Sims 4 feels more like an amusement park or a circus and it's difficult to immerse in a world playing a vampire when your sims is doing vampirey stuff then is suddnely talking to Darth Vadar.

The option I chose kind of answers completely. I will add that I don't need a new world with every expansion. I didn't see a need for Growing Together to have a new world but it includes one. I wonder what the depth of that pack would have had if we didn't get a new world. I already like the pack but how much deeper could they have gone if the budget for the world was used elsewhere? Also, as a side note the 4th option was very tempting. Here is my random kits comment: I don't like them. I don't need them. I don't buy them. :)

It just depends on the pack for me. How well-made it is, whether I'm into the theme, whether it looks like fun to play. I enjoy Get to Work and I also enjoy Werewolves. Would I enjoy my aliens more if they had been as fully developed as werewolves? Probably, but I also like all the other stuff that came in the Get to Work pack. I use retail a lot, I have played a couple of scientists, and I haven't even gotten around to trying the other active careers (though I would like to sometime and they look like fun.)

Both depth and variety can be found in all packs (you can't have 0 variety or 0 depth) but I would say that what I have found lacking is depth. Variety can often be achieved with the tools that the game is providing to us and Maxis are also creating a lot of variety by adding a lot of content to this game.But for me content that have more depth gives me more motivation to use it and therefore create variety, when I get a lot of variety but I discover that there is not much depth to it I lose interest in playing. The packs that I liked the most had both depth and variety to them but I often ended up liking them more because they had game mechanics that had more depth and made me interested in playing them for longer.It depends a lot on what they chose to focus on in the pack. I never thought that I would like Dream Home Decorator but I really liked it because they focused a lot on making use of the likes/dislikes system and you could renovate any lot in all of your worlds. I thought that I would like High School Years but I really disliked it because they didn't focus on the actual High School, instead there was some depth in creating outfits on Trendi and other things.

Depth or Variety? | EA Forums

elliebreton
Seasoned Veteran
2 years ago
Lol, I so wanted to opt for the random kit comment ?
Lazzial
New Spectator
2 years ago
So deep it would require completely seperate games.

*A Sims game with no occults.

*A sci-fi game including the aliens.

*A fantasy-horror game with the vampires and werewolves.

*A fantasy game with the spellcasters, mermaids, etc., etc..

This way they could build better background stories, the world itself and make the occults themselves much different from regular sims. The Sims 4 feels more like an amusement park or a circus and it's difficult to immerse in a world playing a vampire when your sims is doing vampirey stuff then is suddnely talking to Darth Vadar.
SweetieWright_84
New Spectator
2 years ago
The option I chose kind of answers completely.

I will add that I don't need a new world with every expansion. I didn't see a need for Growing Together to have a new world but it includes one. I wonder what the depth of that pack would have had if we didn't get a new world. I already like the pack but how much deeper could they have gone if the budget for the world was used elsewhere?

Also, as a side note the 4th option was very tempting. Here is my random kits comment: I don't like them. I don't need them. I don't buy them. :)
mightyspritesims
Rising Hotshot
2 years ago
It just depends on the pack for me. How well-made it is, whether I'm into the theme, whether it looks like fun to play. I enjoy Get to Work and I also enjoy Werewolves. Would I enjoy my aliens more if they had been as fully developed as werewolves? Probably, but I also like all the other stuff that came in the Get to Work pack. I use retail a lot, I have played a couple of scientists, and I haven't even gotten around to trying the other active careers (though I would like to sometime and they look like fun.)
logionX
Seasoned Vanguard
2 years ago
Both depth and variety can be found in all packs (you can't have 0 variety or 0 depth) but I would say that what I have found lacking is depth. Variety can often be achieved with the tools that the game is providing to us and Maxis are also creating a lot of variety by adding a lot of content to this game.

But for me content that have more depth gives me more motivation to use it and therefore create variety, when I get a lot of variety but I discover that there is not much depth to it I lose interest in playing. The packs that I liked the most had both depth and variety to them but I often ended up liking them more because they had game mechanics that had more depth and made me interested in playing them for longer.

It depends a lot on what they chose to focus on in the pack. I never thought that I would like Dream Home Decorator but I really liked it because they focused a lot on making use of the likes/dislikes system and you could renovate any lot in all of your worlds. I thought that I would like High School Years but I really disliked it because they didn't focus on the actual High School, instead there was some depth in creating outfits on Trendi and other things.
crocobaura
Seasoned Ace
2 years ago
"Eleri;d-1008386" wrote:
Some times DLC is criticized for being too focused on one specific aspect of game play (e.g. "They made an entire pack about vampires!?"). Other times, DLC is criticized for lacking depth (e.g."They spent all that effort on careers and festivals, but they couldn't make apartments that we could place?! And why do I have to go through a loading screen to visit the apartment next door?!").
I was reflecting on the difference between Sims 2 Open for Business and Sims 4 Get to Work. Open for Business only comes with a shopping district and game mechanics for running a business. Get to Work came with both of those things, along with aliens and three active careers. If the tables were turned, with Get to Work a Sims 2 DLC and Open for Business a Sims 4 DLC, Open for Business would probably have been excoriated by the Sims community as a shocking cash grab. All the same, I personally think Open for Business is the better expansion pack of the two because it has much more depth. What do you think? Would you rather see DLC that gives a thorough treatment to a specific theme or aspect of game play, or do you prefer DLC that provides a mix of features?

I would have preferred an Open for Business EP for TS4 instead of Get to Work. The active careers are only relevant if you play them otherwise they have no impact on the EP gameplay. If they want to add active careers maybe it might be better to do so in stuff packs, especially if they continue to make them as isolated gameplay elements. As it is the EP seems unfinished. I would have expected them to make the hospital, police station and even the science lab usable by all sims and integrate them into everyday gameplay. Also, we still don't have proper clothes shopping and grocery shopping and the shelving provided for shops don't have enough slots and are full of all sorts of fixed decorations that make it impossible to use them in certain shop set-ups. Also, sims like to talk a lot instead of shop for stuff and whatever they buy doesn't stay in their inventories.
Simmingal
Hero
2 years ago
I think it depends
Spoiler
because say for example pack name is "The Sims 4: Hobbies expansion pack"

you wouldn't expect just one in depth hobby
there would have to be more hobbies of different kinds at least like idk 4 hobbies or something
for it to really feel like "hobbies" not "hobby and half"

and all those hobbies should be same level of fun same level of depth
and not feel like after thought like " lets just yeet this in too i guess"

Now if your pack name is "The Sims 4 : Vampires"
obviously, it should focus on vampires and vampire related gameplay and make them really fun to play
and yes that is actually achievable goal inside one pack

this is why I sometimes get annoyed by vague titles like "get together"
because there is no chance they will have everything for get togethers you could think relate

and they can't really focus on any part of the get together
cause they already made the theme all vague like that

like sure its vaguely nightlife but does it have everything for nightlife? nope.
sure its vaguely adding pool things but is there enough pool things for that to be complete at least? nope.
sure its vaguely new beautiful german/european seaside world with island
but can we do something with all that sea,
is there something new to do on islands in specific?
german towns in specific? nope.

sure theres arcade machines
but can we really have anything else for arcade? nope.

is there clubs?
well that there is but dipping your toes into so many pools
I almost forgot thats a pack feature

the theme is just too vague for me to ever feel like theres enough of anything in specific with this pack alone

like sure its jolly time to mix with other packs and theres lots of things
but its never gonna be like "the pack where everything was awesome and complete and just what I wanted"

now obviously pack should have variety inside its theme
and it should have depth for the things it focuses on

but i think first the pack just has to focus on something at least
to not feel vague and disappointing

also what comes to stuff packs most of them are extra disappointing
because it is just a stuff pack and it still doesn't focus on anything

for instance: Cool Kitchen Stuff

where is the kitchen stuff dang it
and whats with all this cas that sure is pretty
but isn't even mentioned a pack theme and barely relates

also with patio stuff,
where exactly is the patio stuff,
theres just hot tubs really so it would make tad more sense
to just do heck a ton of hot tubs and call it the hot tub pack
or do some actual freaking patio stuff besides just hot tubs

this is why knitting stuff is so great
because it does actually, focus on knitting and knitting stuff.
theres no strange thing where its about world
or completely different unrelated hobby like idk nectar making
or idk croptops

also most of the time i really feel like what makes expansion packs so very vague is the worlds over gameplay mentality like I just keep thinking what if there wasn't world how much more gameplay could we have?
did this theme actually, need a world, promise a world?
or are we just stuck with "every expansion pack has to have world for no particular reason"

aand as for kits since kits were mentioned I'm actually quite ok with them existing

I just find myself to be uninspired by the themes
since they keep forgetting occult cas and b/b exist
lifestages aside from adults exist
male sims exist

and also sometimes they shoot themselves in leg
by not taking couple minutes to think it through and make items more useful for player
such as with basement treasures kit that otherwise ironically enough
is like breath of fresh air between these pristine realism kits

edit: under spoiler cause the comment is tad long :sweat_smile:
RandomTokenCode
New Spectator
2 years ago
Sometimes the EP contents are so scattered that I can't tell which packs they come from in the game, especially for Windenburg Pack and San Sequoia Pack. Maxis has been stuck in a desperate cycle in the concept design, and they have to patch in the following packs over and over again.

If we do a big re-categorization of themes, below are two examples :

GtW ~~Retail and Baking~~, HSY ~~Thrift store~~, GeT ~~Cafe~~ → Business Pack;
GroT ~~Burnout and WorkplaceRival~~ → Get to Work Refresh

HSY ~~Puberty(Hair growth and Acnes)~~, GroT ~~Teeth Loss and Child Confidence~~ → Generation Pack(or Parenthood EP;
PH (GP)~~SchoolProjects~~ → HighSchool Years Refresh

If they design content more considerately, it's easier for us to have a clearer general understanding of every pack instead of buying a huge pack just for some minor functions. And we may have room for deeper gameplay.

The full name of GP is game pack, which is aimed at excellent gameplay mechanics. Among GPs, the best are the Occult Pack(Vampire and Werewolf) and Lot Pack(Restaurant and Spa). Although they still have a lot of bugs, the overall design concepts are remarkable.
I often say that bad autonomy is better than good filming studio. So I can't stand Wedding and Decorator. They turn a life simulation game into a dead thing. (Perhaps such an accusation is too much for Decorator, I enjoy the reactions from my clients.

And R.I.P. for aliens and mermaids, they sacrifice for the EP theme too much.
Babykittyjade
New Observer
2 years ago
I prefer to pick a theme and go ALL THE WAY with it! I love getting packs dedicated to one thing. It's why aliens are one of the worst occults we have.
SEREFRAS
Rising Hotshot
2 years ago
I actually love variety themes like:
Get Together - Clubs, outdoor parties with historical theme
City Living - Mixed Cultural Themes & Festivals
Discover University - Historical vs Futuristic themes
Get Famous - Mixed Fantasy Themes

The more variety fun the better.??