So apparently the development team are not actively working on updating whims and as far as I know from today’s livestream they are also not planning on updating them anytime in the future. I find this news so disappointing to the point that I’m considering ending my time with the Sims 4 altogether. This is a huge game play feature for me. As long as I have been playing the Sims games I have always used the wants/whims system to drive how my sims lives will go. Does the core gameplay of the game mean actually nothing to the developers because that is sure how it seems to me. They don’t seem to care at all that live mode is lacking in game play as long as they can keep selling expensive B&B/CAS packs. It seems that the game has become nothing more than just a building simulator and I am actually so very sad about this.I very much hope at some point in the future they will come to realise the sims community is full of players that like to play the game in different ways. We aren’t all builders or story tellers. Some of us need a game that directs us in how our sims lives will lead and the Sims 4 is failing miserably at this at the moment. I honestly can’t believe that the developers have let this wonderful game franchise fall so low in quality to the point that it’s almost unrecognizable of what it once was. :'(

This is really disappointing. The lack of new whims was one of the reasons I left the sims 4 because I felt like they had abandoned my play style. I guess I’ll stick with the sims 3.

I feel your frustration! I don’t know why they don’t care about the Whims, they actually help to illuminate a Sim’s individual personality when done well. Some thing I’ve been thinking about is how if they just took the checklists in Aspirations and transformed them into Whims, that would help feel like the Aspirations meant something. In my mind, Aspirations in TS2 and 3 are also just made up of a list of similar type things that are in the TS4 lists, it’s just we don’t actually see the lists in the previous games because they’re behind the scenes tied into the personality mechanic. And then idk maybe they could change the way they present the Aspirations so it didn’t feel like just a list to follow. But, I feel like the template and information they need is literally right there in the UI. They also need to add something to counteract the Whims like a Fear mechanic so it’s not just a gain/advancement for the Sim but also there is a chance of regression too. I still keep the Whims on now even though they aren’t updated because I still prefer that to not having some sort of indicator of what my Sim wants in life. Idk, on one hand I have changed my expectations on The Sims as a robust life sim game so I can still enjoy it, but on the other hand...man, if a more deep/complex life sim game came out, The Sims 4 would move very far down my list of games that I play on the regular.

"Chazzzy;c-17883613" wrote:To tell you the truth, once they let us turn off Whims in Options, the writing was on the wall about them not updating them any further. I guess they thought if we could turn the feature off, no one would complain or notice we aren’t getting any new ones. I personally disabled it as I always found them sort of annoying in this game. But I feel you. Not only that, but they turned whims off by default. That said it all.

I didn't use whims that much because they felt random, buy something, or do something related to your emotion until it suggests you to travel to another lot. But instead of improving them and updating them they just removed them so that sucks for people that liked to use them.The game has become too much of a dollhouse at this point. I guess the next thing they will do is remove aspirations.I have reached a point now with this game where I still play it but I would not really say that I "play" it. I barely do anything story related anymore. I just mess around in CAS or live mode and often find myself just pausing the game and doing something else. Hopefully future updates will be more focused on the sims being more of a game. Because I can't keep myself entertained with a dollhouse for 7 more years.

I don't care about a whim update, I hope they focus on adding wants and fears, I liked whims, but we need the negative side of things too.

Whim Update! | EA Forums

Harukotyan
4 years ago
I'm very dissatisfied and irritated with "bad news" from them. But they said in the stream:
"Although we are not currently working on whims, it is a system we would like to revisit in the future."

I'm a PC player so at least I'm just packed with mods for that. And they are the only reason I keep playing to be honest. I feel whims are very important. I perceive them as a sort of feedback system between the player and the sim character. When whims are meaningful (aka dependent on traits, aspirations and relations) they give me as a player a picture of sim personality and what to do with their story.
I'm pretty sure devs can not not understand these. So I hope they indeed will revisit them. But with so many packs and being ignorant of whims for so long they would avoid it as long as they can probably.
Yet I can't understand if a single modder (Bienchen) managed to make a huge whim overhaul why the whole paid team "now committing more time in schedules than ever before to free updates" can't do so? 'Cause they are to busy adding pronounce? Well, good luck with game direction then...
LenaDieters5634
4 years ago
I really wish they would update the whims to be more personalised like in Sims 2.
I really miss them and also used them to steer my game play in the past. I was already disappointed with sims 3 wants and sims 4 whims were even more of a joke....
They would have worked so well with the emotions?
Louise_Goethals
4 years ago
I feel like the devs are actively eliminating any autonomous actions and events that the game can throw at you. They've said multiple times they want us to be in complete control of the game. Every single sim, every aspect of the world - nothing happens without us making it happen. Look at rotational play. Nothing happens to sims while we leave them alone - the crops in their garden don't even grow. There is no story progression. Whims are disabled by default and are bad anyway, basically just advertising the gameplay objects that came with packs we bought. There are no TS3-style opportunities, which I am a massive advocate for. Opportunities simply give you the option of taking on a task, improving a skill, crafting an object, meeting new sims etc - it doesn't force anything on you that you don't want. But the game doesn't even provide you with an option to be influenced. Pretty much the only way to make the world and sims around you do anything autonomously is to create a dozen highly specific clubs.

Ultimately, this just makes the world, sims and overall game static and dead. If you can't figure out what to do next, just create a new save file and do it all again.
simsimsere
Rising Scout
4 years ago
"Sharonia;d-989885" wrote:
So apparently the development team are not actively working on updating whims and as far as I know from today’s livestream they are also not planning on updating them anytime in the future. I find this news so disappointing to the point that I’m considering ending my time with the Sims 4 altogether. This is a huge game play feature for me. As long as I have been playing the Sims games I have always used the wants/whims system to drive how my sims lives will go.

Does the core gameplay of the game mean actually nothing to the developers because that is sure how it seems to me. They don’t seem to care at all that live mode is lacking in game play as long as they can keep selling expensive B&B/CAS packs. It seems that the game has become nothing more than just a building simulator and I am actually so very sad about this.

I very much hope at some point in the future they will come to realise the sims community is full of players that like to play the game in different ways. We aren’t all builders or story tellers. Some of us need a game that directs us in how our sims lives will lead and the Sims 4 is failing miserably at this at the moment.

I honestly can’t believe that the developers have let this wonderful game franchise fall so low in quality to the point that it’s almost unrecognizable of what it once was. :'(

That's not what they said though. If I remember right they said, they might revisit the system in the future although they're not currently working on it.
Aaleyn
Seasoned Adventurer
4 years ago
"Louise_G0325;c-17883824" wrote:
I feel like the devs are actively eliminating any autonomous actions and events that the game can throw at you. They've said multiple times they want us to be in complete control of the game. Every single sim, every aspect of the world - nothing happens without us making it happen. Look at rotational play. Nothing happens to sims while we leave them alone - the crops in their garden don't even grow. There is no story progression.

About the story progression: I think that if there would be some kind of story progression in the game, it should be optional: players should be able to choose, whether they want to use it or not. There should be on/off type of option for it (like there is with aging).
I'm a rotational player and I don't want story progression. Many of my families in my rotation are related or friends and I want to be on control of what happens in their lives. I think it would be important to have that feature (if it would be added to the game) optional, so that those who want story progression can have it, and those who don't want it, don't need to use it.
And if there would be on/off option, then it would be easy to "change your mind": I could possibly want to use the story progression at some point for a short time. So these types of game features should always be optional so the player can decide how they want to play their game :smile:

About the whims: I like to use them. It would be good if they would update the whims. Maybe there will be an update coming some time in future, but it might be that we need to wait quite long time for it. Personally I don't mind, but of course it is sad for those players that really want whims update as soon as possible :neutral:
MissyHissy
4 years ago
I really hope they do work some more on whims in the future. A lot of people used to play Wants/Wishes based games in previous generations and I know a lot of people still play whim-based games now. To ignore this feature altogether seems strange. I mean, if they were going to add a Wants and Fears system (unlikely) then I could understand it because Fears would help to balance the personalities better.

This seems a shame.
Sharooonia
New Spectator
4 years ago
"musteni;c-17883829" wrote:
"Sharonia;d-989885" wrote:
So apparently the development team are not actively working on updating whims and as far as I know from today’s livestream they are also not planning on updating them anytime in the future. I find this news so disappointing to the point that I’m considering ending my time with the Sims 4 altogether. This is a huge game play feature for me. As long as I have been playing the Sims games I have always used the wants/whims system to drive how my sims lives will go.

Does the core gameplay of the game mean actually nothing to the developers because that is sure how it seems to me. They don’t seem to care at all that live mode is lacking in game play as long as they can keep selling expensive B&B/CAS packs. It seems that the game has become nothing more than just a building simulator and I am actually so very sad about this.

I very much hope at some point in the future they will come to realise the sims community is full of players that like to play the game in different ways. We aren’t all builders or story tellers. Some of us need a game that directs us in how our sims lives will lead and the Sims 4 is failing miserably at this at the moment.

I honestly can’t believe that the developers have let this wonderful game franchise fall so low in quality to the point that it’s almost unrecognizable of what it once was. :'(

That's not what they said though. If I remember right they said, they might revisit the system in the future although they're not currently working on it.

In my experience “might revisit” usually means no. It’s just something they say to keep us quiet about the subject.
Skyrryx
New Spectator
4 years ago
I really hope too they will update officially the whims, because on pc we can use mods to do it for now. But, if we think to people on console they can't. Your mods MissyHissy and Bienchens really renew my interest for the game. Whims, aspirations, traits are the core of the game. Lifestyles and sentiments are not. They are nice additions but not as important.
Onverser
4 years ago
To be honest I've never really paid attention to whims in 4. They've been lacking and very uninteresting from day one, the entire system would need to be overhauled to make them actually meaningful and interesting
MstyBL95
4 years ago
Use mods. The whim system actually makes sense with mods. The original whims are just...buy furniture from packs you own. Modded whims are so great. And if you're feeling spicy, add the mod Better Sims from MTS by Midiar. It adds some features that I think really give the sim personality. It adds in these features:

Complementary Traits
Talents
Color Preferences
Style preferences
Randomized Fashion choices
Location Preferences
Hobbies and skills preferences

You can either add them yourself to customize them, randomize them, or let them be found while playing. As in...if you cook for the first time, if the sim likes it, they will say something like I really like this activity and enjoy doing it from now on. If they don't like it, they will say they don't like it and then get a buff saying something like why do I have to do things I hate. It's pretty awesome and I really find that having my sims like and dislike things adds a lot of flavor and I can put them in clubs with other sims like them or I find out that they just don't get along with certain people.