I agree to an extent. I know many people want open worlds, etc, but I like that I can play this game and not have a terrible amount of issues playing it and everyone has an opinion on it and I completely understand their frustration. However, the way it is engineered to play on most any device is what has made it most appealing to me. Sims 3 was great but gave my computer a lot of issues.
That being said, I believe the biggest thing sims 4 lacks is depth and personality for the sims. Without completely changing the engineering of the game or how it runs, I think the sims should be given more options for interactions. I have seen many complain about how empty each interaction or personality is and I will agree with that. I think more time needs to be spent adding to the Sims themselves. I have seen a lot of people ask for more romantic gestures and I do agree. It seems after awhile the interactions among families goes stale. I feel bored having them interact because it is the same over and over and I'm more just doing it to fill their social need. More Sim traits would add to the interaction variety, I feel. I agree that throwing in more towns with patches is a good idea as well, it gives us more options to expand the world.
I still love the game and still will continue to play it. I do appreciate them giving us free content and freelance careers. To me that gives me hope they are continuing to improve upon the game. It does seem they are either slow or don't always give us what we ask but as I would imagine, it may not always be as easy as it sounds.
I appreciate this post and the positive responses everyone is giving. Again, this is just my opinion on the matter and I usually agree with most other simmers on their opinions. Everyone has valid arguments which I think almost always would be a good idea for the game, in theory.