Something to think about (regarding My First Pet Stuff)

"@Chazzzy;c-16367957" wrote:
Social media wasn’t as popping back in 2011 as it is now. I think this is a main factor of the outrage today simply because more people have been made aware. And group think is a thing ya know.

That being said, I am in full support of the outrage. When I played TS3, I only bought 1 thing and that was a pack that included the basketball goal. Dassit

idk about that, Twitter has recently been doing worse than it has before. And the amount of teens on Facebook is also at an all time low. So there is that.

I think people just seem to excuse the store for some reason, because EA used words like "premium content" or "Gold Set" which in marketing terms, seems to make people okay with paying more.

Like "Premium editions" or "Deluxe Editions" etc. even though the extra content is never worth the extra price *looks at Sims 4 Deluxe Edition*

"Simanite;c-16367973" wrote:

"Omri147;c-16367965" wrote:

"Simanite;c-16367946" wrote:
OMG yes, the Seeing Stars set came out the same week as Showtime and it looked straight out of it. And the surf station came out not long after Island Paradise.

Showtime itself was thought to be the missing half of Late Night... Wasn't a big fan of Showtime...

Aw I liked ST even though it had a lot of hate. The careers were fun and it had pool tables and karaoke!

It added some nice stuff but it's main focus in performing was implemented pretty badly... (Ugh Simport...)

"@Felicity;c-16367975" wrote:
Dirty Sims 3 secret -- the game runs so much better if you don't have a lot of store content.

One thing I do remember is the outrage over the Sims 3 store when they sold store items that seemed to be yanked from an EP. The store didn't bother me so much, because, as I said earlier, it was difficult to pay full price for anything with sim points unless you tried. I do own the pet stuff, but I probably got it as part of that compilation which I probably got for very little $$ due to ads, buying large bundles of Simpoints (twice -- that's it), and ads and buying stuff during the daily deal to make CYS (Complete your set) give even better deals.

Sims 3 Store was almost like a game in and of itself. How to get the most stuff for the least amount of money. But it did take time to do that. Now I have almost none in my game because, really, aside from premium content, the EPs have enough stuff that combined with CASt, there really isn't a need.

I think the store content is good, but considering how expensive it is, they should have implemented it better.
I remember getting Aurora Skies (which is still stunning to this day, ugh, beauty) but my game being much slower.

I love how EA have warnings for having too many packs installed may cause slowness, but then have no warnings for store content, which in my opinion, makes it much worse.

The whole store concept was so out of wack, but packs like My First Pet Stuff aren't the answer either.

"@TiaDog;c-16367978" wrote:
I also hated the store. I don't agree with taking content out and paying extras for them. But tbh I probably will buy this. (I love hamsters for my sims) but I'll wait for a sale.

I think if people can at least wait for a sale (wait for the ones that take like 25% off the entire store, not just 10% or something), that will show EA that we won't pay full price, which if you see how often Stuff packs are on sale (basically never) is what EA want us to do.

a $2.50 difference to us isn't a lot, but to EA, those losses add up and will at least make them against doing this in the future.

If they can make that extra $2.50 a pack, they will. It's EA :p

I didn't mind the store. At the time, I had the disposable income since I had paid off my car loan and student loans at the time. But with TS4 I love how we're getting more for our money.

As for the outrage on the forums, what I don't understand is where was the outrage when Toddler Stuff came out? There was so much of it here when they weren't in the game in the first place. Then, we got toddlers. After that, we got the Parenthood GP. But what happened when Toddler Stuff came out? Crickets.

That's why I'm NOT in support of this current outrage.

"@Ravager619;c-16368045" wrote:
I didn't mind the store. At the time, I had the disposable income since I had paid off my car loan and student loans at the time. But with TS4 I love how we're getting more for our money.

As for the outrage on the forums, what I don't understand is where was the outrage when Toddler Stuff came out? There was so much of it here when they weren't in the game in the first place. Then, we got toddlers. After that, we got the Parenthood GP. But what happened when Toddler Stuff came out? Crickets.

That's why I'm NOT in support of this current outrage.

See, Toddler Stuff is tricky to me. Because Toddler Stuff is for Toddlers to play outside on playgrounds etc. Parenthood only had activities for Toddlers/Kids that adults could "parent" as such. So bad behavior or good behavior.

Toddler Stuff is just straight up fun. I do think it's borderline, but had Parenthood been a Generations EP/GP, I would have reacted differently.

I think Parenthood didn't really focus on toys or playtime, it focused on parents being able to "parent" their children.

Why do you assume people who are upset about this upcoming stuff pack didn't (and still don't) feel the same way about The Sims 3 store? Like someone else said in this post, social media wasn't nearly as big when Sims 3 was released. That's why you probably didn't hear much about it. In fact, I certainly DO recall people complaining about it. I was one of them. I thought the "store" was a horrible idea even when Sims 2 briefly did it for awhile (does anyone even remember that being a thing? lol).

However, I will say that most (if not all) of the store content was 100% optional and not required to actually enjoy the game itself. The Sims 3 (yes, even the base game) was filled with content and features. There was never a time when it felt lacking. Meanwhile, in Sims 4, the base game alone was a huge problem when it was first released (no pools, no toddlers, no ghosts, no create a style, no open world, etc). You honestly can't really compare the two games when it comes to DLC.

The only major issue Sims 3 has is the fact that it's very laggy and often very glitchy. Otherwise, it's almost a near perfect game (with some minor exceptions). Even your "Top 5 Sims Games" note says that Sims 3 would be higher on your list if it worked properly, so I'm not entirely wrong, am I?

The point is, The Sims 3 store was indeed a terrible idea. I won't disagree with you on that. However, it was also a 100% optional feature for a game that was already filled with a lot of content. You didn't need anything from the store to make the game itself enjoyable. The Sims 4 simply isn't the same. It gets boring and repetitive way too quickly. The new content is what makes the game re-playable for most people. Packs are basically a must have for this specific game. Otherwise, it wouldn't have any replay value. Especially when it's possible to do almost everything in one generation of a family. That's how lacking the game is (even after almost 4 years of being released).

"Ravager619;c-16368045" wrote:
I didn't mind the store. At the time, I had the disposable income since I had paid off my car loan and student loans at the time. But with TS4 I love how we're getting more for our money.

As for the outrage on the forums, what I don't understand is where was the outrage when Toddler Stuff came out? There was so much of it here when they weren't in the game in the first place. Then, we got toddlers. After that, we got the Parenthood GP. But what happened when Toddler Stuff came out? Crickets.

That's why I'm NOT in support of this current outrage.

Actually, I was upset with their decision to create the Toddlers Stuff Pack. My sister and I both agreed that the content in that stuff pack should've been included with Parenthood. So, there were disagreements.

However, like OP said, the Parenthood pack was about parenting. The theme itself wasn't necessarily about adding content for toddlers. That's the difference.

"@Lustianicia;c-16368098" wrote:

The point is, The Sims 3 store was indeed a terrible idea. I won't disagree with you on that. However, it was also a 100% optional feature for a game that was already filled with a lot of content. You didn't need anything from the store to make the game itself enjoyable. The Sims 4 simply isn't the same. It gets boring and repetitive way too quickly. The new content is what makes the game re-playable for most people. Packs are basically a must have for this specific game. Otherwise, it wouldn't have any replay value. Especially when it's possible to do almost everything in one generation of a family. That's how lacking the game is (even after almost 4 years of being released).

On that token though, if The Sims 4 didn't have Stuff Packs, do you feel like it would be a huge loss?

I feel like people say that Stuff Packs add meaningful game play, but I always feel they add these extra pieces where the fun wears off a few days of playing.

Don't get me wrong, there's stuff that I do use, but it's mostly house filler. I don't feel like anything a SP has added has been a huge gain. The only thing is probably the Butler.

You have been obsessing over this store set since the stuff pack was announced. It’s a similar situation, but really the EP requirement was the only similarity. It included one premium object that had no new gameplay attached to it. Pets ate out of it exactly the same as the regular food bowls. The remainder of the set wasn’t for pets.

This new SP has content that is explicitly for C&D (which requires an EP), content that is designed in the same style as furniture from the C&D EP, and has a new gameplay object that previously came with the ‘Pets’ EP.