What's Your Approach To New Packs?

I continue with the same save, but I have different families.

I’m still exploring many of the past packs as well, so the incorporation depends on my sims.

I sometimes create a new family for the pack (within the same save, but in a different household in the various worlds, as I am a rotational player), but for other packs, I sometimes mix a few of the new pack’s features into the family household that I have currently rotated into.

To incorporate a new pack for a family depends on the current sim’s personality and backstory, and where their lives are heading to at the moment.

It really depends on the pack. Some, like University, I incorporate into an existing save, because I had teens ready to go. Others, like Cottage Living, I started a new save for, because I wanted to come up with a new story for a fresh save. :)

I always incorporate new packs into my existing gameplay. I play generational, so I don't ever just start fresh saves just for the pack, if my current saves are buggy I might start a new game, but otherwise they are always incorporated.

"Stormkeep;c-18037165" wrote:
but I've been simming since TS1 and, just mho, TS4 already has more gameplay elements than any of the previous games in the franchise ever did

I've been playing since TS1 as well, and I find it very surprising that you feel this way, as I respectfully have to completely disagree. (I was already well into adulthood when I started playing TS1, so my memories are not colored by childhood nostalgia or anything like that.)

Now, I think it would be fair to say that TS4 runs more smoothly than TS3, but there's no way on earth that I would say it has more gameplay elements. It's probably fair to say it has more gameplay elements than TS1, but that seems like a pretty low bar to clear considering the decades that have passed then... it would be a pretty sad state of affairs if it hadn't advanced at all in that time. I think it's actually pretty comparable to TS2; some things are better, some things are worse, but it's roughly the same level, which is not impressive considering how long ago TS2 released. It seems pretty clear that TS3 was a giant leap forward, and they weren't really prepared for it, so they took a big step backwards with TS4 at release. The team does seem to be trying to incrementally move the ball forward post-release; I applaud the continuing effort, and some of the content has been great, but I don't see how anyone could do a pack by pack comparison of 3 to 4 and think that we're getting more now. The vast majority of elements are shallower.

CAW? No. Color wheel? No. The ability to add lots to neighborhoods? No. Underwater swimming and swimming in every world? No. Smaller and fewer worlds? Yes. Fewer occults. Fewer pets, and less ability to control the ones we do. I could go on and on, but I think we all know what the most commonly requested missing items are at this point. I do think we'll get some of them in the end, but a lot of what we had in the past, we will never get in TS4. There's plenty I do like about this game, but I just don't see how anyone could think it's a richer experience than TS3 or even TS2.

I usually play a test save to get used to how new gameplay aspects work, maybe play a few career levels or try out new skills, life states or features but I don't play all new features exhaustively.

Then I incorporate them in my main save over time.

Some things, like new hobbies/games, I can incorporate immediately. Other things, like careers/traits/aspirations/lifestyles I might have to wait until a sim ages up or joins a household through other means.

@Amapola76, part of the reason you don't agree is because though I specified "gameplay" you are including a lot of things that aren't actually "gameplay" in your analysis. Things like CAW, adding lots wherever you want, Color Wheel, etc. aren't "gameplay" though they certainly can be considered as enhancing gameplay. Your view of "shallower" is why I made the side bar regarding "quantity over quality."

Sims 3, in particular, has far less "gameplay" in a single game, in my opinion, because, they designed it such that you only have access to one world and the vacation destinations within a single game. I'm aware that there's a mod to remove that restriction, but mods aren't part of the discussion.

Usually if I buy a pack I have something specific in mind for one of my saves that will make use of some aspect of the pack. But it might take me a while to get around to it, depending on how it fits in the story, and how often I am playing that particular save.

I don't deliberately explore the pack. I just use aspects of it as I find a use for them. If I want to know how a feature works before incorporating it into one of my stories, I read a tutorial.

Regarding gameplay, it may depend on what elements one likes.

However, imho, I do feel Sims 3 packs (and Sims 2) had more stuff to do in general, though. Like, there were more interactions and systems within. Sims 1, 2, and 3 had magic stuff that are not in the Sims 4, as well.

However, there are some elements of Sims 4 that I do prefer, like the vampires system and toddlers, and some of the Parenthood elements, etc. I love how much easier it is to do some things, too. I love the little things that got added like cooking together, clubs, etc. There were some things that were brought back, eventually, in Sims 4, and I loved that, too. Or, Sims 4 may have sort of brought some similar stuff back. (Sims 4 did not bring back sewing, but they brought in knitting and cross-stitching, for example.)

I do miss underwater exploration, seeing the kraken and sharks (and summoning said kraken), taking the toddlers and babies everywhere (my strollers, where are they? *cries*), baby/toddler swings, washing babies in the sinks, home businesses, attraction system, hotels, fairies (or more occults), and some other things that are still missing from Sims 4.

I still love Sims 4 very much, but I also loved the past Sims games as well, and I do feel Sims 4 is still missing some stuff from the past.

Anyway, this is getting a bit off-topic for the thread.

To get back on-topic: I very much enjoy putting in some new pack gameplay into my Sims 4 families in the same save file, but I use elements for different families because it depends on their personalities and their life-stories.

The first thing I do is check out the new CAS and BB content to get rid of the catalogue highlights - and see if there are nice swatches hidden in there.
Then I usually play for some time in a dedicated test save. Once I know the basics of how things work, it just finds its way into existing saves (unless I decide a feature is too annoying and I prefer to turn it off). I generally don't play the entire pack in my test save, it becomes too much of a grind to just complete all the new stuff.

When I started my current save I decided to do a rotation where each family was focused on one expansion or game pack I owned. This has changed to one expansion or two game packs. But I also do lots of regular family things and I have saved some things for future generations so I haven't gotten to everything yet. I purchase packs when they seem like they'll fit (Strangerville and Eco Lifestyle came out right when I needed to create new households that would be perfect for them), or get them for Christmas. The Christmas ones don't always get worked in right away, and even the ones that do are only the focus of one household in a large rotation so it takes me a long time to do anything.

For example, I have not yet sent a single student to university in my main save despite owning the pack for over a year, because I got it after the third generation was partly YA already, so I decided to save it for the 4th generation. But I have sims who own ping pong tables and I use the CAS items. And while my sims eat out all the time, I am waiting for a current teen to age up before owning a restaurant. It took me about a rl year to get through the Strangerville story.

So kinda like @Stormkeep said, it will take me a long time to finish the content I already own. I want werewolves and a few other things, but I have plenty to do while I wait for them.