Sims Businesses and Hobbies Expansion Pack Negative thread.

As soon as I saw the name of this pack announced as "small businesses and hobbies" I went "uh oh".  And sure enough as I feared the "hobbies" got a very short shrift.  Sims 2 Freetime came with TEN new hobbies.  We're getting ... pottery?  Which is cool, I'm into that, but seriously that's all because tattooing is not in my opinion nor should it be a hobby.  I would not get a tattoo from a hobbyist,  I'm sorry.  I'm disappointed there is no mention of sewing, I've been wanting that back since the Sims 3 debuted.   I also fear the new system to have live in businesses, using as it does pretty much the exact same mechanic as For Rent, is going to be just as buggy as For Rent.  I'm waiting to see more, but I don't think I'll be getting this pack anytime soon.  Maybe on sale, if they fix the inevitable bugs.  I'm more interested in this point at what's coming with the "Golden Years" kit.  Maybe it'll be our first kit with gameplay since Bust the Dust and we'll get sewing then.  I can hope.

Yeah, seeing the motherlode teaser with all the Simlish, I quickly determined that the hopes for sewing, clothing design, and/or mechanics game play pretty much flew out the window when I saw the kits' titles.  Along with the fears of the meshing a home and business being like For Rent's apartment system, I wonder about the older packs that allow you to run businesses. Will Restaurants and Vet Clinics be affected? Will the system from this pack allow Simmers to make those into family and/or home businesses? 🤔

Wish we could have multiple community lots on one lot.

I've preordered almost every expansion pack since High School Years. (except For Rent) This might be the first time in a while that I'm passing on the preordering. I'm completely unimpressed by the overall 'business and hobby' of this pack. But then again, the gameplay trailer hasn't come out yet so we don't know what all is included in this. From the looks of it, this could have just passed as a game pack. Very underwhelming. 

I preordered Life and Death right after the reveal trailer, didn't even wait until the gameplay trailer. I was impressed by what I had seen in the reveal trailer. This pack, not so much. 

My wishlist before the trailer and pack notes: 

• A BG update for multipurpose lots - NOPE (and with the type of lot that seems to be locked in this pack, I conclude that we never will). 
• Option to buy and run almost any type of venue (bar, café, lounge, nightclub, gym...) with a ticket desk/front desk item to charge entry fees - YES
• Sewing machine and more mannequins to make and sell clothes, curtains and other things made from fabric - NOPE
• Fashion runway to show off those clothes  (also working with knitting of course) - NOPE
• More options of what to make on a wood working table, such as functional toys, more versions of furniture, frames for artwork... alternatively new toy maker station - MOST LIKELY NOT
• Ability to create lamps and lighting or tinker with electricity - NOPE
• Hair dresser chair and barber chair that also work with NPC hair dressers - NOPE
• Pottery wheel - YES
• Glass blowing - NOPE
• Tattoo chair - YES
• Ballet or jazz dance - NOPE
• More gym options (cross fit equipment, exercise bike, gymnastic tools) - NOPE
• Sports: tennis or volleyboll - NOPE
• More instruments and bands - NOPE
• Pool table, shuffle board table - NOPE
• Cars and mechanics skill - the option to run a garage and fix other people's cars - NOPE

Will I be buying this pack at release? - NOPE!

Will I be buying it at a sale? Perhaps, but I'm not really sure. That is a lot of money for what is essentially one hobby and a way to charge entry fees. 

I have to admit that my biggest disappointment is the lack of multipurpose lots, as in real multipurpose lots, where you can combine a restaurant owned by X, a shop owned by Y, and a tattoo parlor run by no one but that still functions. I want pools with café and diners, parks with cafés, malls... I don't need to run these by myself, I just want to be able to use them in my game. 

JesLet40 - I would also have liked to see the B&H EP come with the ability to have various shops on a multipurpose lot owned by different sims.  However, I feel like that ability will probably come in a future mall pack.  The one thing that I really dislike about TS4 is how much content is split up across different packs.

As much as I'm interested in it I'm only seeing a hobby rather than HOBBIES which is the pottery one.

Cause I was hoping there'd be like some extra things to you know for sims to waste time doing? Because everything is relating to like making money and businesses, but nothing just for funsies? Was expecting to leisure activities. I don't consider running businesses a 'hobby' much les tattooing.

And nothing written in the description for the pack to indicate otherwise, so call me reaaaaal skeptical about the 'hobbies' part because got weary with seeing tattooing being the main focus of the pack.

I just don't understand why we barely get any new animations (interactions or gameplay) in EPs now - this has been an ongoing problem since High School Years (to lesser and worse degrees, with the exception of Horse Ranch which I know was light on content but obviously took a lot of coding/animating), but since For Rent it has actually been terrible. They seem to be focusing more on systems and pop-ups than actual new animations, and being a long-time customer who regularly pays out a premium price tag for content, it's really not good. When comparing TS4 EPs (specifically the later ones) to EPs from previous iterations, it's a shocking contrast. 

I desperately want all of this content (especially sewing machine),  too. 😔

I'm disappointed about there only being one hobby in showed in the trailer. I was hoping for more. 😞