New Official Sims 4 Expansion Pack Survey
There is a new EP survey with 9 potential new Expansion Pack themes. SimsCommunity posted about it.
https://simscommunity.info/2024/09/19/sims-4-expansion-packs-survey/
Forum Discussion
I picked the van life, ocean and adventure exploration. I love the Sims because it's an upbeat and humorous antidote to real life, and don't really want to have my sims living in a dystopian or post-apocalyptic world. What I would really like is for more of the careers to be playable like the detective, scientist, actor, etc. I want to be a teacher that goes to the school and teaches. I want to have a riding stable where the horses can be boarded and rented out. I want the pets to be more playable and able to get jobs. I basically want my Sims to have more to do in the packs that I already own.
Very Interested)
1) Gritty City - Especially if it ties in with Get To Work and works to expand the police career.
2) Modern Monarchy - With emphasis on political intruige, drama and fake friends.
The extended text talked too much about 'influence', which sounded dangerously similar to the neighbourhood votes/fashion icon, I don't wan't re-skinned gameplay.
Somewhat Interested) But both of these are better suited to be Game Packs.
3) Post Apoclypse - Only if they made it make sense, like on a separate planet or Island world. I would also be careful not to make it a re-hash of Eco-Lifestyle's off-the-grid living.
4) Van Life - Probably wouldn't play it much, but it is different to anything we have had.
Less Interested)
5) Camp - This is going to leave a sour taste in my mouth because Outdoor Retreat should have done this.
6) Ocean World - ....This is going to leave a sour taste in my mouth because Island Living should have done this.
7) Cyberpunk - (See 90s world)
9) Adventurous Exploration - Free update to Jungle Adventure to add Museum lot types and bam, you have this pack.
8) 90s World - With this and Cyberpunk, I am not keen on time-travel. But future travel makes more sense than going back in time, and if they were going to do a back-in-time pack, I would want Medieval or Victorian stuff. I just don't see how they could do this without completely breaking time-line/scientific continuity.
I would prefer them to split these concepts into different packs; kits for clothing and furniture and stuff packs for rollerblading or part-time jobs fleshing out, etc.
Happy to see they are considering some long asked for ideas for expansion packs, but disappointed to see how many are recycled concepts from their existing half-job EPs.8) 90s World - With this and Cyberpunk, I am not keen on time-travel. But future travel makes more sense than going back in time, and if they were going to do a back-in-time pack, I would want Medieval or Victorian stuff. I just don't see how they could do this without completely breaking time-line/scientific continuity.
I don't think 90's world is meant to be as a time travel EP. More like basically what you would find in a small town where new technology wasn't implemented as fast or on a large scale. The 90's were 30 years ago and most of the stuff described hasn't become museum exhibit yet. People still read newspapers, go to malls, arcades, use landline phones, etc.
Yeah, I've seen it.
My main thing is that the expansion pack idea has to be totally unique. That's why I've commented against some ideas shared on this forums. What I don't want mostly is existing packs losing their value. The main thing is that the old packs must still retain their value so that the people who don't own them would buy them and the people who own them to not get angry. And anger is a dangerous thing now that The Sims is getting some competition. The Sims has to finally step up their game to not become a dead franchise.
But rambling aside, here are my opinions on the each idea offered.
- Idea 1 is The Sims 3 Island Paradise somewhat. Interesting idea, but the big problem here is that it includes a lot of details that were wanted in Island Living. Waterfront properties already exist in Sulani too. This idea will draw in some complaints if Sulani isn't improved too. Plus the world choice is extremely important as another island world will compete with Sulani and make the pack less unique.
- Idea 2 is interesting, but what do they mean by different worlds? Every pack introduces 1 world max, so are they including multiple or what? Also, what would be the new elder activities?
- Idea 3 sounds... interesting but niche... Yeah, that's a great idea. One point of expansion packs is that they don't force down features to players that don't want them.
- Idea 4 sounds like Jungle Adventure but with more nature science aspects. I'm... needing more convincing here.
- Idea 5... Hmm... One thing I liked about The Sims 3 Into the Future is that you could change the future to be Dystopian or Utopian. I'm more for clean, futuristic style, but I think it would be interesting to affect it to have it be cyberpunk or something. It's in the preference in my opinion.
- Idea 6... I... Hmm... What do they mean by "revered law enforcers"? We have the Detective career in Get to Work. They have to make sure that Get to Work still holds value after this, because this poor pack has already lost some by getting photography skill brought to the base game. It needs some new value with a pack refresh!
- Idea 7, I don't like the first line, but the "Create your own sleepaway camp" part does get me on board. Ok, that is interesting, but what exactly would it offer is my question.
- Idea 8... So many features offered, but it would just be an activity pack. These are not bad, but they are niche. I need some more convincing there.
- Idea 9 is a really unique idea. But what would be the alliances or rivalries? Would it be with other worlds or how would it work? Would there be only one world with all that monarchy thing or more? And what if players want presidency in some worlds instead? This needs careful thinking.
Also, why not make some game packs too? These are smaller and cheaper and lately been neglected.
But yeah, it is interesting to see what comes out in the future.
I disagree. I've bought nearly every expansion at full price. It doesn't make me angry when packs come out with similar features. Often when packs come out it inspires me to think of other similar things that could come out. I don't mind paying for these things. The opposite really, I want to see the sims continue to expand on ideas.
Old packs will still hold value to me as they were valuable to me when I purchased them. I've gotten value from them. The Sims game in general has enriched my life which has value.
Getting angry about a video game sort of defeats the purpose of playing video games. If the game brings someone to anger, perhaps they should play a different game.
Ok, I understand. Yet I value the gameplay the most. That's why I am not interested in Kit packs at all. In terms of gameplay, Perfect Patio stuff (base game) and Luxury Party stuff (My Wedding Stories & High School Years) have lost all value in terms of gameplay, but in terms of build mode objects and CAS items, it still has value.
Value is subjective, I agree.
Yet what I worry about the most is the shallow nature of expansion packs. Yeah, it could be nostalgia speaking though...
On anger, yeah, some people are passionate about the series. While it can be annoying, I'm sure, sometimes it can help things improve, give feedback. Most of the time it's there to let the developers know that they want to see the game improved. There are reasons why it's irrational, I agree. Yet "if you're angry, go play a different game" advice is just... telling someone to give up protesting. Nothing's going to improve, better give up and move on. While sometimes it can be sound advice, there are players that haven't played other games besides The Sims who have no other game to go to (yet). And then there's also a topic of autistic special interests preventing from trying out other games.
So yeah, people have grown up with The Sims and they'd just hate to see the series potentially doing fatal decisions.
But yeah, for now, I can play The Sims 3 or The Sims 2 for example.
I would SO buy an 80s/90s pack in the blink of an eye. I grew up in the 80s and was a teen/young adult in the 90s, so having a pack that recreates those decades would be amazing. One of my favourite pack for Sims 3 was in fact the throwback pack that included accessoires for the 70s, 80s and 90s. As soon as I got that, all my male Sims looked like glam rockers, including the face paint, long hair, tight clothes and everything 😁 I would SO love to do this to a few of my current Sims, too, or create a glam rock household.
After taking the survey, here are my top picks:
- Sleepaway Camp
- Van Life
- Ocean World
I took the quiz yesterday. I love some of the ideas there. My ranking would be:
- Modern Monarchy
- Retro World & Malls
- Sleepaway Camp
- Post-Apocalyptic Survivor
- Cyberpunk
- Van Life
- Adventurous Exploration
- Coastal Town & Ocean World
- Gritty City
Okay so I took the survey and while I think some of the ideas are interesting none of them wee incredibly exciting to me. I still want the open world and larger neighborhoods of Sims 3. MAN I MISS THAT! Because while the Sims themselves in Sims 4 are superior to the Sims in Sims 3... I REALLY find the worlds disappointing. Consequently, I don't play 4 anywhere near as much as I played 3.
There were several promising ideas in there, though some sounded more like GP content than EP content. But here are my general ideas:
- Monarchy never interested me, and the word modern made it even worse. Historical monarchy would give me items worth using in historical game play, but modern monarchy doesn't make me want to jump up and down with joy.
- Van-life sounds fun, and I'd assume that has to come with cars? Still the entire idea sounded very GP-like. Not sure it would appeal to me.
- The kids camp sounded very GP like, an addition to parenthood and a non-existent school pack. Would probably buy on sale for more kids stuff, which we desperately need, especially clothes.
- The underwater world sounds like a mermaid GP. If done right it could expand on Sulani and be a good compliment, but mermaids never really interested me in the first place.
- Retro world - well I do love history, but the 80/90s perhaps not so much, also it's not that hard to create. GIve me good decades-kits instead or possibly SPs and I'm good.
- Cyber punk - looks cool but not my thing.
- I can't even remember the adventurous exploration. Sounds sort of cool, but we do have packs for foraging and outdoor living.
- Gritty City sounds a lot like a suggestion I made a while back for a really cool GP, and this was one of my favourites IF (and that is a major if) it comes with an update of the GTW Detective Career as well as a revamp of the Criminal career. Another must for me in a pack like that is consequences. Real, severe, consequences. Hefty fines, jailtime, the option to rat out other criminals but suffer their wrath instead, injury, possibly even death. Would they be able to go dark enough for this to be interesting and not just dirty decor?
- My favourite is the Post-Apocalypse, but again with a major reservation. I don't know that I'd enjoy it if this was just a one world thing, I'd want to be able to turn all worlds into a disaster zone, all with their own challenges in the environment. And it would have to come with settings to severely limit NPC-creation. I don't want people in colorful clothing walking their dog outside my "sole survivor" home or knock on the door with a piece of fruitcake. How would they handle the game mechanics to assure this?
Monarchy never interested me, and the word modern made it even worse. Historical monarchy would give me items worth using in historical game play, but modern monarchy doesn't make me want to jump up and down with joy.
I think you would still get historical items you can use with historical gameplay because palaces are old and full of old stuff. I think modern monarchy means that they will still use their cell phones and not use old methods like couriers or messenger pigeons. The only issue I see is that you can only have one king or queen and there's no job adverts to fill that position. Or maybe in true sims style you advance in that top position by starting as a junior butler or something,
You make good points. As with any pack, I will look at the content, the gameplay and then make up my mind.... and then likely buy it at a sale later either way 😄
I think The sims needs a birthing ep. Or added in with updates to get to work or parenting .... something like pandasama has. Or just partner with pandasama since EA is gonna start selling some creator content packs. But the options I'm talking about are like home births i.e. water births. Or like ob appointments or lamaze classes. The pandasama site has mods for all this but you can use them on console. Definitely worth a collaboration to create some kind of pack for this stuff. Other than that I think maybe just work out the quirks and kinks of it all and get it as up to date as possible. Add more hairstyles for kids and for the black sims... things like that.
