I don't really see a problem with forced story progression. Relationships are pretty easy to build up and break down in every sims game. Plus there's the manage worlds option which lets you do it yourself if you don't want the game doing it for you and there's a cheat relationships option if you shift click a sim. I don't see much of a downside to it either. I know there's people who micromanage every part of their sims life and story, but I think they're a small, vocal minority as most people probably play this as a video game more than a story telling device. IMO lack of story progression is not a feature, it's a flaw, it's going backwards. They should've improved upon story progression rather than get rid of it completely like they did with a lot of other things.
I just want them to add story progression. I'd like it if they added it in even if forced. The people who don't want it can just erase the relationships they don't like with cheats and add the ones they'd like and if they have aging off they'd have enough time. Sims have always done things we don't want them to do and it's always only been a minor inconvenience. I just see it as an extension of autonomy/free will, which is also a vital part of gameplay to me.
Toggles would be ideal. I'm optimistic and I could see them pulling it off even if everyone thinks they'd fail at implementing them. MCCC has really good options for it, I wish there was something like it in vanilla, but testingcheats does let you do a lot of things.
