Is it weird that I feel like I'm Wasting Packs?

"Emma0708000;c-16347951" wrote:
I feel the same way sometimes. I bought cool kitchen stuff and i haven't even used the ice cream machine once whoops...but same with other things like hairstyles and even big expansion packs like city living with the sims 3 i would always use apartments not so much in the sims 4 need to admit though i use ALOT of items from City living :) I may just stick to buying packs i really want.

I use the ice cream maker to get Sims to lose weight quickly. Two servings of Taste of Diet and a jog. Then throw it away so they don't lose too much.

I always make sure to get some use out of at least a bit of every little thing in every pack so I get my 'money's worth' of content I play for. I certainly also create households specifically catering to some packs, including CAS assets they wear. Most often all my money's worth comes from CAS assets that I can give on many other Sims so that's something good. Though I always relish making new Sims and households with specific pack content.

"GalacticGal;c-16347800" wrote:
I have played the Sims, since Sims 2. I had all EPs, SPs for Sims 2 and still never played every thing or every aspect of each one. With Sins 3, I was far more conservative in what I purchased, only buying the first couple of SPs, and all EPs, with the exception of Supernatural. I did try to play the game, selecting only a certain set of EPs, but I found traits I often used were missing, as a result. That taught me that even though I thought I wasn't using all aspects of a pack, I wasn't completely aware of just which pack the tings I did use originated. Don't beat yourself up. You probably use far more than you realize. The idea is to have FUN. Right now, I have everything except Vampires (having never been a fan of those, I was grateful EA gave us a choice, this time). Do I use everything from the new LD SP? Not quite, but I like experimenting with stuff. Some things (objects) I use as décor, just for fun.

This is pretty much how I feel about it in general as well.
I may not use all the packs and sometimes yes, I try to use some from time to time to give it a chance, but I've always been like this with sims. lol. From the beginning.

In some ways, I feel like I don't have a complete game without all the packs, and I lose options if I did want them. For me Sims is something I don't mind at all spending my money on, I've been doing it since the very first one. I love to have them for fun, for the decor, and like @GalacticGal said, I'm sure I use a bit of each part, even in interactions we get and gameplay, so in the end, I don't sweat it. The sims is my fun time. lol.

I think as I said before, once you realize maybe you aren't using all the stuff, you just make a conscious decision and plan to use more of them and you will feel better.

With rotational play, I play a bunch of different households with different compositions and different interests. I end up using a lot of stuff in that, so I do use items from all of the packs that I have. I also hold out on getting a pack until I'm willing to use content from it or until I need a change in my game. I have to know how I'm specifically using a pack in my game to be ready for it (not to mention that there are outside factors such as when I'm willing to buy something or not). I waited on Cool Kitchen until I was ready to use that ice cream maker and some of those hairstyles/clothes. I waited on Kids' Stuff until I had a bunch of households with kids needing more to do. I got vampires when I wanted Max Villareal to permanently become a vampire in my game, which he is. He's an awesome vampire. There's still some stuff that I don't have. You get the idea.

I go through a lot of decor, clothes and activities. With all of those houses, I would get bored if I re-use some of the same stuff too much.I do use the venues repeatedly as locations for different sims, they add some continuity to the game for me. I might send two different households to the same venue but they'll have a different experience because all of my sims are developed personalities. (I determine their personalities - the traits are only broad indicators, whims are only suggestions that I pay attention to if I want to).

Anyway, there's some stuff that doesn't interest me much or that I haven't gotten around to but I do tend to try different experiences. I've finally gotten around to having a restaurant owner in my game. The annoyance with a rotation is that I've realized that I can't play as dining customers with other sims in that venue while he owns it. I think at some point, I may need to have him "sell" that property but retain a seat on the board so that my other sims can resume going to that venue. This means that I primarily use Dine Out as the customers because I like having various restaurants as places for my sims to go out.

I have found that editing or renovating lots makes them more interesting and more personalized for my sims. I have a nightclub in Newcrest called Club Slate (a Maxis lot that I added a while ago). I was never using it because it seemed like a boring venue. Rather than tearing it down because I was never using it, I went into build mode and moved a few things around. I added a GT closet so that it would be similar to/competitive with Discotheque Pan Europa for ... nightclub activities. Now, my sims are going there regularly and some drama has revolved around that venue (rebellious teens hanging out there until curfew, a new guy in town running into the local notorious femme fatale, etc). The point is that now I've figured out how to make it more interesting in my game. That's just an example.

I guess I'm just saying that you shouldn't feel bad if you don't want to use certain content. If you do? Go ahead and figure out a plan for how you want to. Don't worry about what other players including myself are doing except as suggestions if they spark an idea for you.

"Lustianicia;c-16346656" wrote:
Honestly, as long as I'm using at least ONE feature or piece of content from a pack, I feel better about owning it. For example, I don't particularly care for the Outdoor Retreat game pack... and I rarely go camping. However, I still often use some of the objects (such as the horseshoe game) and some of the clothes.

I can kind of understand how you feel though. It feels like a waste sometimes when I have a pack and don't use anything from it at all... which is why I try my best to at least use something from each pack... even if it's such a minor feature or piece of content.

This -- I don't use the items from Luxury Party much but I've built a beautiful wedding venue in the basement of the museum in Willow Creek using many of the items -- the buffet tables are great if you don't want to risk hiring a caterer who only makes BLTs. :| I don't send many of my Sims to the spa, but it's nice to have them in town just in case. I usually put the yoga mat and the meditation stool in my Sims houses as a hobby item, and I use the B/B stuff a lot especially for luxury bathrooms. I don't have an interest in running a restaurant but I like having them in town if I want to take my Sim out for a meal. I'm looking forward to mixing and matching some of the CAS from Outdoor Retreat with the CAS from Jungle Adventure; seems like they'll coordinate quite well and I'll get a lot more use from the former, plus I just had a Sim top off the Herbalism trait so I'll need to start making some of the most useful potions.

"Emma0708000;c-16347951" wrote:
I feel the same way sometimes. I bought cool kitchen stuff and i haven't even used the ice cream machine once whoops...but same with other things like hairstyles and even big expansion packs like city living with the sims 3 i would always use apartments not so much in the sims 4 need to admit though i use ALOT of items from City living :) I may just stick to buying packs i really want.

I don't use the ice cream maker much, but the stove/refrigerator set are my favorites and I use them pretty much in every build and remodel. (Love the new refrigerator in JA though and it'll probably go in some of my smaller builds and definitely in apartment remodels, especially with ones where I use the Mid-century furniture from Bowling Night stuff.)

"jamiehood;d-935687" wrote:
So, I have a lot of packs in the Sims 4. But I feel like most of them are wasted, as I don't use some of the features very often. Some examples: I almost never go to the Spa from Spa day, or vacation in Outdoor Retreat. When festivals are in town, I go for a brief bit, but leave. I really want to make better use of these packs, but I feel like I'm wasting them. What should I do?

Same here. Make a To-Do list from each and every pack and check them off as you've done them. Maybe (*) the ones you really enjoyed to see about using those features more often. I've done this for a challenge I created for myself called the completionist challenge. It's basically the super sim challenge but extreme edition adding in the to do list.

Edit: If you go into Origin, click on The Sims 4, click on the 'Extra Content' tab where all the packs you have installed are, you can click "Read More" for a list of features in each pack. Or of course look it up on websites that offer guides.

...I bought the Cats and Dogs expansion only for the hair with ears... :>

I try to pace myself so I always feel like something is "new" with each save file or even generation within a save file. I don't use every item from every pack regularly and I honestly never thought about it until now. For example, the current generation of my legacy is very into waterslides because I hadn't used those in a while. They have a watersliding club because I wasn't using the club option very much either. Maybe they'll get a butler soon because I haven't had one in forever. One of the weddings for this generation was primarily made of items from Vintage glamour so that would be fitting.

You're not alone OP. I have yet to build a spa, but I frequently use assets such as the yoga mat and the New Age radio station.
Also haven't sent my Sims on vacation, yet I adore the wooden furniture and hiking gear that came with Outdoor Retreat.

I figure I'll get around to using those features someday, but if I don't, it doesn't really matter that much, because I enjoy using the various other assets. :smile: