I think my main issue with worlds/lots are as follows;
* You have to choose if you want residential lots or community lots.
* I really don't like how open the world's are. It causes too much cross over which to me make everything seem smaller cause you see the same 10 Sims everywhere.
* Some worlds are way way to small. Magnolia Promenade/Forgotten Hollow. That being said they are definitely beautiful in their own rights and good for smaller game play times.
* For the most part you are free to bulldoze and change lot types up. So there is a lot of flexibility and customization but you are just capped off by a limit.
* The focus on style over substance is the main drawback I feel. Take DU for instance all that window dressing to create the hub town of Gibbs Hill and you get what... 4 lots? If those fake buildings weren't there would those be able to be used as lots?
As it stands now in my game I have just maxed out Willow Creek. I think I have 14 Playable Families and the rest are Community Lots. I had originally planned that Willow Creek was gonna be purely residential but I decided that I wanted my own Community Lots too. I like creating everything even if it's not perfect. So I revamped my park, I added a community pool and added a wedding lot. Lastly I made a cemetery lot as my playables are aging. It's not a perfect system but 217 lots is not a bad number you just gotta say how many of those you need for playables
