For someone who stopped getting packs after Cottage Living…

Horse Ranch is my favourite of the recent packs. It seems like I have now more horses than sims in the game. But I've never gotten near a horse in real life, so I don't know why I enjoy it so much.

If you like Cottage Living, then Horse Ranch is a must. The two are twins.

Growing Together adds so much to family gameplay that I highly recommend it. It especially adds milestones for the new infant life stage that makes it so realistic. I love the family dynamics and the compatibility ratings. Although Sims can still become good friends in spite of bad compatibility.

Werewolves are a hoot. If you like occults, they are fun to play. Even the youngest Sims have characteristics that let you know they will be werewolves from the start. 

A lot of people love Horse Ranch, but I haven't had a chance to play it as yet. For Rent has corrupted saves, so I would avoid it until it's fixed.

I had a terrible time with my wedding stories when it first came out, but my last weddings have gone well. I find it helps to arrive at the venue early and test things out. You can even do a wedding rehearsal and make sure things work. One thing that still disappointed me is that the Sim of Honor doesn't stand with your Sim. The only position of honor I use now is flower pal. They can walk down, strew the flowers and sit down. The officiant is working for me now which I love. 

I love Horse Ranch and Crystal Creations. I get a lot of use out of both. Of the two I like Horse Ranch a bit more. There's a lot more build mode and cas content naturally and it's all really well done. On top of that you get one of the most beautiful worlds with Chestnut Ridge. Then there's horses and nectar making. There is just so much to do. 

I love the gemology skill and the ability to craft jewelry in Crystal Creations. And not just gorgeous jewelry but items that help with skill gains and grant moodlets. If you play witches or other mystical types of sims it's a great fit and adds a lot to that style of play.

I might be in the minority but I love MWS. Mostly for Tartosa. It's a small world unlike Chestnut Ridge but it's every bit as gorgeous. It's perfect if you set your stories in Italian or Greek inspired settings. I waited a few months before I got it but I haven't had any issues with weddings.

If you like occults, I really reccomend Werewolves.  The CAS and Build/buy is unique in that pack as well (a lot of damaged, run down stuff)  It's also got a great advancement system for the Werewolves.  (my only quibble is that they kept the Alpha/Omega thing that is not a real thing with real wolves)

Skip For Rent for now.  The world is cool, I love the CAS/Build Buy, but the key feature - Residential rentals - causes problems.

I'll second Horse Ranch though.  But I'm biased.  I love horses, I rode horses as a kid (competatively, even, though I didn't do very well) so a pack dedicated to horses is very much My Thing

I love the BB and CAS in High School years. The game play, in my opinion, is fun for like a week and then seems very repetitive. The world is boring. If you can get it half price or less, then it may be worth it. 

I'll echo the sentiments for Horse Ranch though. I don't play with the horses that often but the world is nice, and the BB/CAS are wonderful as well.

Growing Together has decent game play but the world is disappointing. The CAS and BB are nice though.

For Rent is okay. I could take it or leave it.

Like most said, Horse Ranch and Growing Together are both really great. I'm also partial to the new stuff packs, Home Chef Hustle and Crystal Creations. Both add a nice amount of gameplay and have some pretty nice stuff.

Definitely skip For Rent until it's fixed. 

I haven't played with High School Years much, but it's not a bad pack. Same for My Wedding Stories - I do find that one a bit boring (especially the world, but similarly, the Growing Together world also has little going on in terms of walk by's). 

I personally have gotten a lot out of Growing Together and think the self discovery, midlife crisis and milestones add a lot to the game. I also like the new family dynamics. 

Right now I'm playing a lot with horse ranch, and I agree that it does work well with Cottage Living and is fun, though taking care of the horses is a lot of work and gameplay can become a bit repetitive with needy horses. 

High school years has its perks, mainly in BB/CAS, but the world is boring, and school gameplay limited. Worth it on sale tough. 

Unlike many I actually love For rent, but then I haven't had many of the major bugs (just some). It does work poorly with cottage living (if sharing a farm with another family animals will be dirty and mistreated when switching household even if they are perfectly cared for. You also can't generally see and interact with horses on communal grounds unless you own them. Chickens also freeze the game if you do not own them, for some reason I have yet to figure out. However if you play the unit that owns the animals it works fine.  The cursed book event is also bugged, so turn off events before playing. With that said, almost all my character live in or own rentals at this point of time. 

My wedding stories I would avoid like the plague. It's broken, hard handled, and come with a pretty but utterly boring world. I like the CAS and BB but it ruins weddings completely so if you like throwing weddings, do not get it. 

I own Werewolf, but haven't played with the key features yet but I like the more broken BB. Sometimes you need a bit of worn and battered furniture. 

My Wedding Stories isn't working...yet. There are 3-4 major bug fixes coming up in a patch later this month. Not sure if you saw the July 9, 2024 Laundry List but it's going to fix the town hall, call off the wedding interaction, sims not sitting on the floor during a wedding ceremony, and hungry sims not eating the wedding cake before the bride & groom can cut it. That's going to fix some of the bigger grips of the pack. 

As for packs after Cottage Living, High School Years does work for the most part now. The upcoming patch will fix one of the new teen aspirations that came with that pack so that'll be nice. The perk is being able to see your teen live in school and control them during the school day. You get prom, social bunny app, and some really cute build/buy & CAS items.

The pack I'd recommend the most though is Growing Together. It's the Sims 4 version of Generations (kind of, you still need Parenthood for the rest), but it gives family dynamics and social compatibility. It adds the challenge and makes legacy/generation gameplay a bit more challenging. Sims have to work to make their families close or jokesters. Your sim can experience burnout, midlife crises, and workplace rivalries. Traits can be acquired through gameplay, giving sims an option to have 6 traits (3 acquired through gameplay and 3 set in CAS). I think it's a more subtle EP because the gameplay isn't so easy to see from a trailer or just quickly playing through the EP. But like Seasons, Growing Together changes your Sims' day to day lives and interactions. 

I'm not a big animal player in the Sims 4, but there were a lot of folks that liked Horse Ranch. 

It depends on what playstyle you prefer. 

My personal favourite of the releases after cottage living would be werewolves. I love playing occults and werewolves are implemented very well. I like how they look and can be customised (only thing missing is a feminine body type) Their powers are useful and they pose a challenge with their rampages. 

Horse ranch is also a nice pack. It goes well with cottage living. Combining both gives you more options for a farm with not only horses but also sheep and goats which give wool and milk respectively.

Growing together is great for family play. I like the milestones because sims finally feel like they have a bit of a memory of passed events. It adds a lot of small things to enjoy like bikes for kids, new board games, sleepovers, family members coming to stay for a few days to help out with the kids,... Playing with infants is quite different with this pack.