OP: I absolutely agree that if there's a TS5, I hope they take their time to make the base solid and fleshed out. I know that the business goal is to get people to pay for DLC (at least at the moment, who knows what the next model will be) but having a good base isn't going to deter all players from adding to it.
I do like this. I love the supernatural and I think the core of the game should have Ghosts but other than that the occults being DLC is fine.
That said, part of the appeal of The Sims IS the quirky and strange. So I wouldn't keep out the unusual careers altogether. Have solid everyday ones, but ones like Secret Agent or Rocket Scientist or Criminal should still be part of base game, imo.
As for traits and making them more in-depth, I wonder if combining the traits as they are now (while having a stronger impact on a Sim's behavior) with the original TS1 sliders would make the Sims more defined personality-wise.
Sliders as they were in TS1 for the basics: Neatness, Sociability, Activeness, Niceness, Playfulness could all have a scale of 0 to 10 (I know TS1 had a limit of points to be assigned but I know I never liked that restriction). Maybe a Techie vs Luddite slider, as you said, with the respective behaviors attached to them.
In addition to that, there could still be a few slots (with those basics, 3 might even be enough) for specific traits. Things like Jealous, Creative, Cheerful, Romantic, Family-Oriented etc could all be there to flesh out a Sim's personality.
I'd also like if they could be dynamic: say for Neatness, if you have your Sim clean up, make their bed, put away clothes etc, their slider would move towards Neat. If they leave dishes dirty and forget to do laundry, it would move down to Slob.
About careers/jobs: One thing I would love to see is jobs that aren't set up with a promotion track. There are definitely people in the world who aren't looking at their careers with the aim of progressing through to the top level. Teachers come to mind: people dedicated to education but no urge to progress to, say, a headmaster.
It could be done as standalone jobs with no promotion, or having an option to choose a pay rise without a promotion if certain requirements are met. Or if the job performance is excellent, the Sim would get a pay rise but no promotion if they don't fill promotion requirements.
An example of the teacher career that would start at the level of Teacher's Assistant: if a Sim goes to work Inspired (yeah, I like the emotions), does class prep or marking tests the evening before, their job performance rises. If it gets to Excellent, they get a pay rise. But to get a promotion from TA to Teacher, the Sim would need to study (at university, online, or home study) for a certain amount of time. The latter would be optional, so your Sim could stay at the TA level indefinitely but progress on the pay scale but lesser raises than if they get promoted. Or maybe instead of a regular pay rise, they'd get a bonus for an Excellent day.
This could be done on every level of every career.
(sorry about the length)
