Expansions and Game Packs are not going to make The Sims 4 better

In that case just make sims 5 already.

As Geralt has said... it’s like receiving a pie without a filling.

The Gurus don’t communicate, they don’t update us with dev blogs or twitch streams about the direction of the game and there is no roadmap.

Most of the improvements of this game could be used by updating the DLCs we already have. It’s the least they can do by communicating with us about that last survey they did about “game improvements”... maybe for that 20th anniversary day. Still, nothing.

Was that survey a spoof? Something to distract us? False hope?

Communication of some kind would really be appreciated.

I’m tired of assuming. I just want to see them treat their customers with respect.

I agree. But when you have a community that buys anything there is very little incentive to change things. I genuinely think they don’t regard the flaws as flaws at all.

"MidnightAura;c-17407486" wrote:
I genuinely think they don’t regard the flaws as flaws at all.

You're correct in this line of thinking.

• Preference for emotions over personality - sims devs think this is OK and not a flaw (all sims feel the same)

• Lack of proper family connections (anything beyond parent or sibling seems to be ignored by gameplay) - sim devs assume nobody is really a family player and think this is OK

• Missing basic build options - lack of ladders and spiral stairs, no ability to pick side stair railings go on, incomplete build packs w/ single tile, double tile, and three tile windows and doors missing in many packs, wood trims not coordinating between packs or even within packs, lack of basic black and white swatches on most old decor, kitchen counters incomplete or recolored clone of old packs, lack of cabinets, lack of matching bathroom items (a sink and shower but no bath or toilet?), almost total negligence of cross-pack play, lack of toddler and child integration - kids cannot do anything that teens+ can do (what happened to the easy bake oven??)

• Played sims spawning in outfits the player didn't make - devs find this funny and amusing and not at all the absolute PROBLEM it really is despite complaints for YEARS

• Complete lack of attention and items/CAS/hobbies/activities for toddlers, children and elders - devs assume people only play with young adults and nothing else

• No sim memories, likes/dislikes, or interests - something that was well loved in past iterations of the game seems to be totally overlooked in favor of all sims being over-emotional and stale - devs aren't hearing our pleas for a system like this despite it being totally viable

You know I don’t understand why people think the studio wants to make a big complex game like some players want. They have had over 5 years to make some sort of progress on any number of things and they have not. That’s a choice. It’s not like making no dlc would make them want to make a better game. No offense that’s just the culture of this studio. They have a vision and they will execute that without regard to players. They know Sims 4 is such a mess, and I’m sure some of them don’t like that but it’s sold good enough and they have no reason to want to make a better game and EA definitely has no reason to tell them to.

"drake_mccarty;c-17407861" wrote:
You know I don’t understand why people think the studio wants to make a big complex game like some players want.

Well I think it's more of a thing where players expected the sims 4 to EXPAND on what the previous three games had - like sims 2 expanded on 1, and sims 3 expanded on 1 and 2. Sims 4 feels like it ignores the history of the franchise and doesn't improve or expand on any old ideas/gameplay that was wildly enjoyed by fans in previous games.

That's where I feel the majority of the disappointment comes from.

There's a disconnect between where the team wants to take the franchise (social and YA-focused), versus where the forums want to take it (in-depth life simulation.) Audiences exist for both, but a game that compromises between the two focuses will satisfy neither group. It seems to me that the answer is to create two games, a more classic TS5 and a TSO2.

I haven't excited for an pack in over a year. Nothing they've added has fixed the biggest problems the game has. It's like they try to pile on pack after pack of stuff to try to make the game look more interesting, but it all falls flat when the BG is so lacking.

It's almost end of Feb, and we haven't received any updates on their milestone for 2020. I suspected there's a reorganisation or changes in their positioning strategy? More than anything, I would like to know the result of the latest survey. Make it more transparent & get us involved & informed. Not that I don't like surprises, I just can't trust them anymore.

Maxis doesn't seem interested in making the sims4 better, they rather see these flaws as part of the game.

I think one reason is because some flaws are based on the original code and how the game works, I am very skeptical if they are willing to give sims more personality like it seemed in the survey because that could conflict with how all the buffs and interactions work.

Unfortunately this seems to have become a major part of their development to the point that they don't even want to go back and check how old things work and they don't even check if everything works properly in their packs so they constantly break things with their patches.

Their focus are instead to make new content regularly for the sims4. They don't have time or the budget to change how the game works with their new packs. It doesn't even matter to them if the flaws are making the packs worse because that is just part of the sims4. A game that is unpredictable and unexpected because they don't know how it will react when you will add new things to it. People will buy their packs anyway.

I honestly think the best thing to do now is to not support them for more than what you feel that they are worth. Don't show blind support by buying their packs at release and don't accept their lack of quality or variety with their content. Be a more critical customer.