Strangers in your conversation

We've implemented a notable change to how Sims determine who they speak with on a lot. Now, Sims will generally prefer speaking with familiar Sims they already have a good rapport with, and Sims are less likely to engage with strangers spontaneously.

Fixed in Patch 1.122.205/2.31

Please create a new thread if you're still experiencing this issues

For your couples struggling to be friends, you  might try this solution that I use. I had this same problem across all of my households and it was ridiculous because my couples truly belong and want to be together, yet every time I would load into a household, they were all very unsatisfied with their relationships. To combat this I find that making sure both sims complete the Love aspirations of Paragon Partner, Romantic Explorer and Soulmate. Having all of those was a game changer. However, it can really be a pain to get them all without using a mod because some of the parts conflict and/or, doing it on one sim doesn't complete it on the other sim even if they're at the same stage of the aspiration. You can use sims outside the relationship to get credit, like asking about romantic boundaries, but I think I only tried that once because I was worried that it would count as cheating or something. Also, completing all three aspirations is very time consuming per couple so I found a mod called UI Cheats Extension that I will use to quickly complete the aspirations by opening up the aspiration and right clicking on each task.

I don't like to use mods either but unfortunately some things can't wait on a fix to come out and this is one of them. Once I am done I save my game and exit, remove the mod from the mod folder and restart my game. I just keep the mod handy to pop back in to the mod folder as needed.  I hope this helps you if the problem is as bad for you as it was in my game. 

Yes, this! And additionally (I didn't read all of the comments) when my sims is talking to a group but I see a sims I want mine to Interact with further away, my sims does not go to that sims, but waits till that sim comes to the group and now they all are talking together! Super inconvenient if the sim I wanted mine to go to was like a secret friend... and now here they all are.

At the very least, please stop making sims wait for a NPC to walk from the other side of the map, especially when my sim is talking to someone or doing something else. It pauses anything my sim is doing and they just stand around until the NPC gets there. The majority of the time, the action cancels when the NPC arrives and my sim was standing there for no reason.

I’d love to see a fix for this. Maybe a pop up like “so and so wants to join your conversation” and options like “accept politely, accept enthusiastically, reject politely, or reject rudely”

This has become so bad now that when I start a club gathering so many random npc's turn up that some of the club members (usually the pre made sims) just leave the lot. I play on a gaming laptop, no mods or cc ever and my game and laptop are both fully up to date.

My Sim was trying to compete in the Gunther Goth’s Cup and was absolutely swarmed by Townies trying to chat. They were in the space where she was battling with her sword. I mean, that's just a safety hazard! Then she was swimming when a conversation popped up with a Sim way across town, the same thing happened when she was breaking and entering to snoop for secrets. It does seem as if something isn't functioning correctly.

If I haven't introduced my Sim and they are essentially a "Stranger", I really do not want them interrupting my actions to talk with me (I can have a full queue most of the time, like in Granite Falls collecting and these hikers ruin it). Then suddenly that stranger is a friend before I can stop the interruption. No matter where I go I get 2-12+ strangers on my friend list when I queued none of them.

Please stop strangers from talking with my Sims/active household. Make sure I have at least had a previous relationship or that I at least introduced themselves first : /