I'm mostly an Alpha user, but I do have a little bit of Maxis too. I prefer Alpha because it allows you to make your Sims look more realistic (and I don't mind consistency within the game's graphics), but I've been a little bit critical of it lately. I do respect all the CC creators and acknowledge their hard work, but most of the times, it seems like Alpha CC is created to make your Sims look pretty; for example, most realistic skin overlays blur wrinkles, which makes it hard to find Alpha overlays to put on your elder Sims that don't make them look like they have had Botox injected. Most of the times I've seen Alpha CC used only to make pretty, teen/YA Sims that look like models instead of using those options to make actual realistic stuff. Sorry for the long rant, I really needed to get this off my chest because there's a lot of wasted potential in Alpha CC that instead is used to make your Sims look like Barbie dolls.