Sometimes Less Is More
At this late date in TS4 I'm starting to feel like there is too much content and too many patches and too many changes from when I stopped playing the game in 2017.
Think how long that is with all the content patches, nerfing stuff, and or adding other changes in patches, taking things away, reworking things, and then like a zillion packs that I haven't played.
Maxis, sometimes TS2 players were uncomfortable with TS3 because it was a huge game and very overwhelming if a player didn't stick with it, and follow everything happening and or coming out next. TS3 is indeed a huge game with every update it received, every pack that was created and every store object or set that was ever released. Sometimes, too much is just that, too much. Let alone of what type of pc a person needs to be able to actually run TS3 with everything ever created installed and this was almost impossible back when it was the current game on the machines we had at that time. Not so much a problem now, with SSDs and faster CPUs and monster video cards. However, still overwhelming.
TS4 is headed down that same road in my opinion. If someone returns to TS4 after a long break they find out the things they did like are nerfed by a patch, or changed in a way they no longer like the feature and or just too many piecemealed packs to consider. Granted there isn't a TS4 store but kits can be considered slices of what was sold on TS3's store site.
I know you are required to keep producing stuff because of the agreements with EA however, though there is a lot of things players want in TS4 when it going to be enough and starts to become overwhelming and too much? I think that time is now. How may packs/GPs, EPs, Kits, Stuff packs has someone missed let alone all the patches that changed things for better or worse if they have been absent for three or four years. I think it's become as overwhelming and messy as TS3 ever was and we know the general feeling about TS3 that modders had to fix it, and EA/Maxis left a mess. People may enjoy TS4 but in truth it's just getting to be a big pile of a mess and too many packs and still not the things players would like to see. Good for you, but not for us. Maybe slow down and stop adding so much and or changing so much before people can catch their breath.
TS4 is just as overwhelming as TS3 ever was and why some of us prefer no more than a handful of EPs and then done. A good example is how Barbie flooded the market and now you can't give those things away at a garage sale, other than the really old, first Barbie.
I really hope if you are building a TS5 you will consider a handful of EPs and done, it was the model for TS1 and TS2 and just some of the reasons those games remain people's favorites. People still play TS3 because they still haven't discovered everything. TS4 is just the dlc game at this point and not really something people will hold onto for the next twenty years like they did the older games. Profitable to you, yes, but not as loved as the first games, and or as respected. I think a few developers have a very good idea of what I'm saying. It's just too much already.
Think how long that is with all the content patches, nerfing stuff, and or adding other changes in patches, taking things away, reworking things, and then like a zillion packs that I haven't played.
Maxis, sometimes TS2 players were uncomfortable with TS3 because it was a huge game and very overwhelming if a player didn't stick with it, and follow everything happening and or coming out next. TS3 is indeed a huge game with every update it received, every pack that was created and every store object or set that was ever released. Sometimes, too much is just that, too much. Let alone of what type of pc a person needs to be able to actually run TS3 with everything ever created installed and this was almost impossible back when it was the current game on the machines we had at that time. Not so much a problem now, with SSDs and faster CPUs and monster video cards. However, still overwhelming.
TS4 is headed down that same road in my opinion. If someone returns to TS4 after a long break they find out the things they did like are nerfed by a patch, or changed in a way they no longer like the feature and or just too many piecemealed packs to consider. Granted there isn't a TS4 store but kits can be considered slices of what was sold on TS3's store site.
I know you are required to keep producing stuff because of the agreements with EA however, though there is a lot of things players want in TS4 when it going to be enough and starts to become overwhelming and too much? I think that time is now. How may packs/GPs, EPs, Kits, Stuff packs has someone missed let alone all the patches that changed things for better or worse if they have been absent for three or four years. I think it's become as overwhelming and messy as TS3 ever was and we know the general feeling about TS3 that modders had to fix it, and EA/Maxis left a mess. People may enjoy TS4 but in truth it's just getting to be a big pile of a mess and too many packs and still not the things players would like to see. Good for you, but not for us. Maybe slow down and stop adding so much and or changing so much before people can catch their breath.
TS4 is just as overwhelming as TS3 ever was and why some of us prefer no more than a handful of EPs and then done. A good example is how Barbie flooded the market and now you can't give those things away at a garage sale, other than the really old, first Barbie.
I really hope if you are building a TS5 you will consider a handful of EPs and done, it was the model for TS1 and TS2 and just some of the reasons those games remain people's favorites. People still play TS3 because they still haven't discovered everything. TS4 is just the dlc game at this point and not really something people will hold onto for the next twenty years like they did the older games. Profitable to you, yes, but not as loved as the first games, and or as respected. I think a few developers have a very good idea of what I'm saying. It's just too much already.
