Regular townies turning into spellcasters?

"HeatherInMyHeart;c-17246277" wrote:
I don’t like that random sims are being turned into spellcasters but the thing that really bothers me most is the random outfits, they’re horrible and unacceptable. Sims are wearing Christmas hats, pirate hats, skiing sunglasses and all these other horribly mismatched items. What was whoever is responsible for this thinking? People have already made threads about this issue and they continue to add this nonsense in. Why can’t they just wear the clothes I assigned them? Omg this plum me off when I see sims looking a mess like this. I wish they’d just go away I don’t want to see their awful outfits. It’s not funny, it’s annoying. This is probably the thing I hate most about this game, the dumb random outfits.

Tell me about it! I wish the team would correct this, same with festival outfits, who actually enjoys that part of the game.

"WolfNate;c-17239387" wrote:
@fullspiral People are... Odd and want the pack for build mode content and whine about fantasy plaguing them when they bought a fantasy dlc

You're partly right about that. However, people like me don't only buy packs for build/buy items. Sometimes, it's about the world. You see, in TS4 it's impossible to get new scenery and additional real estate without having to buy it. As small as it is, Glimmerbrook is a world that doesn't look like anything else in the game. The closest resemblance is to Granite falls, which is non-residential.

That leaves players like me wondering: is it worth the hassle of dealing with magic-users in order to gain more variety in the game environs? Now that there is a mod to stop the unfettered magic-user creation, my 'to buy, or not to buy' meter is sliding a bit closer to the 'yes' side -- at a deeply discounted price. (Once again, modders to the rescue. Thank you, Zero!)

The 'net is full of cc items that I find more attractive and closer to my tastes, all for free. Unfortunately, I can't download a new world anywhere.

So, instead of some of the players in this thread blaming other gamers for spoiling the fun, perhaps, fingers should be pointed at the true culprit, EA. If EA provided a world-building tool, it would alleviate some of the crossover players for these types of packs. Moreover, if there were toggles in the game, there would be no issue whatsoever.

"Pamtastic72;c-17239619" wrote:

I will fill you in:

Alien visits
Fires
Vampire visits/attacks
Weather related deaths

I think there’s more but, I get so frustrated when I talk about this stuff I forget. But yes, they give a feature to introduce random happenstance into the game. A vocal minority complains loudly and then quietly in a patch unannounced in the patch notes they drop the occurrences of these features to the point where the barely exist. Features that were in fact advertised elements of the game/pack that people paid money for because they wanted those features. So now the only time something “random” ever happens in your game is if you work very very hard to absolutely force it to happen.

Please see my previous response. You're blaming the wrong people.

Plus:

• How do you know that the players who prefer more realistic gameplay are in the minority?
  

• Also, why do random events in the game necessarily have to be tied to something supernatural? I would like more random events in the game, too. (Perhaps that would make me want to actually play it, rather than taking interesting pictures.)
  

Unfortunately, EA seems to have the same mindset as in my latter point. A lot of their effort is obviously put into occults. Yet, a lot of realistic players don't want the happy-happy, joy-joy that we are being accused of either.

Random events can happen in a myriad of ways that don't need to be related to the supernatural. Unexpected pregnancies than can add to the adoption pool and deepen the stories in the different Sim communities; a random nemesis; a random relative that comes knocking at the door; more career opportunities that have real consequences such as demotion or dismissal; a surprising rent hike that would force a Sim to take make more income or they will have to move; a troublesome boss who keeps giving players random tasks to complete and extra hours on the job which causes a Sim to work harder, quit, or start their own competitive business...

EA could have added anything that would add some surprise and challenge for players as a whole.

As well, toggles should have been a mainstay of the game from the very beginning. They should have been a consideration when developing the engine, not as an afterthought. Especially since the only way to get certain elements into our games also means having to say yes to Aliens, Vampires, Mermaids, Witches, and whatever EA happens to dream up next.

The problem is not the players, the problem lies with the EA suits who make all of these alienating decisions.

I think the players ok with the premade spellcasters are confusing game features with game mechanics. The game has to fill the magic realm with spellcasters---feature. The game does not have to create spellcasters from existing premade sims--- bugged mechanic.

Nothing about that is random or unique, it's actually the opposite. Why on earth would it be a feature to have any pre-established sim show up in this "secret" dimension. It's one thing to make those characters magical through gameplay but the player doesn't even get to experience it with them. I could understand it if these sims found their way to Glimmerbrook and snuck through the portal and went about the process to become magical but instead it's like hey you're here too... and 4 levels above me. It would also make more since if there was a new trait that would make a regular sim seek out magical things. That way you could give that trait to any unplayed premades and they'd show up in the magical realm.

I just think there should be more purpose and exclusivity to the spellcasters otherwise there's no point to having this seperate world. If this is an intended feature it makes magic more akin to a situational skill as opposed to being an exclusice feature for the spellcaster lifestate.

"WolfNate;c-17239387" wrote:
@fullspiral People are... Odd and want the pack for build mode content and whine about fantasy plaguing them when they bought a fantasy dlc

I mean I kinda understand that since most people during the Sims 3 days bought store sets and all, sometimes you just want a pretty wallpaper or window to build with.

"Dglbr1969;c-17247854" wrote:


As @SiliClone suggested, I created 2 familys of 8 x spellcasters each and put them into the world (unplayed) but I forgot about evicting them and just having them currently not in world. That's ok though for now, so far I've only seem them in the Magic Realm, and the other "played" spellcaster I have in the game. I have not seen any other played sims or premades in the realm as yet, fingers crossed.


EDIT: I just thought I would add, that I have indeed seen other premades in the realm now having played a while. Johnny Zest, and one of the ones from Sulani, it doesn't bother me cause I'm sure adding the spellcasting families has slowed it down instead of turning the whole towns lol, but yeah maybe it's random?

That was one of the first things I tried in my game, and on multiple visits... yeah unless you have the mod it will start drawing from the premades eventually again.

I’ve been calculating and testing it in my current spellcaster save, and from what I can tell you need at least several teen spellcasters, several elders, and double the amount of adults. Initially I tried two 8 sim households with a mix of YA, A, and Elders and that was a mild success until my third visit where I stayed for 8 sim hours, enough for the Sims to tire and cycle out, and living in Glimmerbrook sims to trigger some spawning as well when it comes to randomized sims.

Gonna try another save with like, 16 YA sims, 8 A, 8 E, and 8 teens and see if that does it. ? although at this point I’m more just trying to prevent too many randomized spawns since I got the mod.

Unplayed Sims, or Sims from the other worlds, should not be randomly assigned the Spellcaster trait. Isn't part of the fun having the abilty to create our own Sims to fill these roles rather than having the game decide how we play our games? A toggle for this should have been in the pack for the players who don't want to use mods. This little 'feature', along with one or two more, are responsible for me holding off on buying RoM. I am a micro-manager with storylines and backstories for all my played Sims and I don't care for the fact so much control of my game is being taken from me. Is it little wonder some of us rely so heavily on mods? MCCC has been a lifesaver when it comes to taking back control of my game. Not all of us want occults running rampant in the game. One or two occult beings in one save is a novelty. Ten to twenty occult beings in a save is annoying. And breaks my immersion. I realize many do not feel this way. I understand that. But this has been a huge problem not only with RoM but with other packs as well. And don't get me started on the situational outfits that every Sim, played or not, has to wear in every combination imaginable from every pack we own.

There is SO MUCH INFORMATION here. I'm confused. Maybe someone could answer this question.

If I load an old save (pre-ROM), and I never visit Glimmerbrook and never go to Manage Households to delete anyone, will townies be turned into spellcasters?

"fullspiral;c-17239614" wrote:

"WolfNate;c-17239605" wrote:
Nope started playing 4 last year and didn't hang out with community again till this pack

It's a ton. People who don't want occults but want the packs rule and get their way and things have changed so much in the game from the original intentions of the packs. Those of us who want the weird and wacky and pay full price for it based on a promise of delivery have been shafted when those things get "tweaked" because of doll-housers. It's been happening since GTW and aliens.

You know what is hilarious about this, simmers DO want occults, it's just the portion of the community that is anti occult is simply more persistent about whining until a SimGuru's head explodes, and they get their nerfing muggle way. On the 20th of March, SimGuruLyndsey released the pack statistics based on how many people used them the first year they were out and Vampires was #2 out of the 7 Game Packs that were then available as choices. Strangerville had only been out for a month at this time, but that was the only game pack that wasn't getting the fair year shake. For me, this definitely indicated a market for occults in the game. I hope she does another breakdown after RoM has been out for a little while, because I think it will do extremely well, too.

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I've put up with so many inconsequential packs by this point, that people whining about occults does push my buttons. I have rolled with this painfully dull creepy Stepford Wives version of The Sims since release, and I think I have been a down right stellar champ about being constructive with my criticisms. It's getting better, it really is, but it has been a painfully slow ball to get rolling. I've let other people have their fun as world after world was rehashed with various versions of white picket fence modern day era living over... and over... and over... and freaking over again... I was patient... and they finally tossed me a bone with vampires, I was ecstatic. I waited patiently through that rage induced debacle as people voiced their rabid prejudices against vampires, and now that we have casters, here it comes again. For the love of pink plumbobs, calm your Crumplebottom shoe laces. You have a million other neighborhoods to choose from, seriously, skip the dang pack if you are really that anti-caster. It's like buying red stilettos and then complaining the heel is too high. No... really? You think?! It's even in a llama loving Game Pack, so it's not like you're missing out on a major Expansion Pack. Who orders steak when they're a vegetarian for the side of salad? How much sense does that make? Seriously, skip the dang pack like I have skipped countless packs that came before this one because they were not what I was looking for! I'm not normally one to argue that angle, but I can't turn off cats and dogs, I can't toggle off toddlers spewing forth their never ending paint and powder all over my house, but I don't complain and try to ruin what gives other simmers happy rainbows and fuzzy feel goods. I don't pee on your parade, stop peeing on mine!

Now, there are legitimate complaints here. As far as the weird situational outfits in The Realm are concerned, I agree those are rubbish. I don't see why on earth the outfits I dressed my sims in, or the outfits the townie sims are already wearing, aren't good enough to pass go through the magic portal. That is silly, and I agree on that front. I don't really care if premades cycle in as spell casters, but I can see how that might get people's goats, but if you stay out of the RoM portal, you're never going to see your precious premades casting spells. I've dueled Bella Goth in RoM at least 10 times now, but when I have seen her at San Myshuno festivals or elsewhere in the world, I have never seen her cast a spell... not once. She doesn't even cast spells when I invite her over for dinner. So to me, this plays into the secret society hidden spellcaster thing that I have going for her. However, if you never went to RoM, you wouldn't know she was into that sort of :gasp: occult lifestyle choice. The only thing that breaks my immersion, is the horrible outfit she wears in RoM where we duel. lol That being said, I can see value of being able to disable any sims that exist in your neighborhoods from being part of the RoM spell casting crowd unless you designate them as a spell caster. Options are good, and while I don't need this, I can see how a little more control here would be helpful for players.

I do wish Maxis would implement an occult toggle, just so I wouldn't have to read people's blind prejudice and hate speech against occults, but as it stands, that's not an option yet. So unless your complaint is one of the two above, you can go stick your head in your Laundry Stuff Pack dryer and select hit high heat.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/25f5aab96ed3146dac9f3e5353f4254b/tumblr_py32cn8vqJ1vorh5do4_1280.jpg

"RobinGreenthumb;c-17248370" wrote:

"Dglbr1969;c-17247854" wrote:


As @SiliClone suggested, I created 2 familys of 8 x spellcasters each and put them into the world (unplayed) but I forgot about evicting them and just having them currently not in world. That's ok though for now, so far I've only seem them in the Magic Realm, and the other "played" spellcaster I have in the game. I have not seen any other played sims or premades in the realm as yet, fingers crossed.


EDIT: I just thought I would add, that I have indeed seen other premades in the realm now having played a while. Johnny Zest, and one of the ones from Sulani, it doesn't bother me cause I'm sure adding the spellcasting families has slowed it down instead of turning the whole towns lol, but yeah maybe it's random?

That was one of the first things I tried in my game, and on multiple visits... yeah unless you have the mod it will start drawing from the premades eventually again.

I’ve been calculating and testing it in my current spellcaster save, and from what I can tell you need at least several teen spellcasters, several elders, and double the amount of adults. Initially I tried two 8 sim households with a mix of YA, A, and Elders and that was a mild success until my third visit where I stayed for 8 sim hours, enough for the Sims to tire and cycle out, and living in Glimmerbrook sims to trigger some spawning as well when it comes to randomized sims.

Gonna try another save with like, 16 YA sims, 8 A, 8 E, and 8 teens and see if that does it. ? although at this point I’m more just trying to prevent too many randomized spawns since I got the mod.

Ahh, Yes it makes sense about the time in the Realm, cause sims travel back n forth all the time. I didn't create the age spread, hence why one of the elders and one of the townies from Sulani is there too, mmm. I dont think I have a lot, although I do have Amun Bheeda as a teen there, as his mother was there in the beginning when she was pregnant, that's interesting isn't it? I can't recall seeing as many as my starting test save, where it just drew a lot of them. Cassandra, Alexander, the teens as well as adults. Let us know how you go!

Okay, while it was fun in my testing save to see Nina Calliente, Zoe Patel, and one of the guys from the spinmasters as spellcasters, I've added 18 new spellcasters to my Legacy save mostly to see how many are used. I have an even split of male and female, and with the exception of YA and Teen (a brother-sister family I added for story reasons) we've got 4 of each - Teen, YA, Adult, and Elder.

I'm about to send my first family member into the realm of magic.... (I'm several generations removed from the initial premade families, so I don't expect to see any core game premades in here. Maybe some from Windenberg and San Myshuno, since I got those most recently.) I'll report back on how many I see...