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2 expansion packs a year please?
John_Salonica
Posts: 353 Member
Am I the only one that wants two expansions packs a year? Yes I know that they say that it takes them like one year to make an expansion pack, but how back in 2015 they gave us get to work and get together in one year? And Im so curious to see , if we are getting only one expansion pack a year, in how many years we will get the last expansion pack? I hope that they have faith in the game, and that they will continue to make it better. So many things can be added. I love the sims 4 , and I just imagine it in some years with like 15+ worlds, with a lot of expansion packs and new gameplay experiences and of course the ability to create your own worlds 
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Comments
Is it because they have fewer developers working on TS4 than they did on previous versions?
"If you build it, they will come." - Movie: Field of Dreams
No - if anything the Sims Division of EA has grown - it is because of the new direction EA itself has gone in. This live service thing to extend the life of every big game EA has. They are adding stories and all sort of thing to previous just plain sports and action games - adding depth and steady flows of DLC to all their big games. Wall Street is loving it - and EA stocks are soaring. The Sims is just one of the many games EA has added new directions to. Lots of interesting reading over at EA and on Wall St. Believe me.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Could be another explanation too, if some the TS4 team been moved to working to get TS4 to console with DLC downloads, maybe some even working on mobile version before it got out. Then maybe there was only a shell team left to work on DLC content for TS4 for PC so they priorities releasing smaller content packages instead?
That is not the design for Sims 4 - we need to forget how The Sims used to be - as this is a whole other direction.
No they have not moved any of our teams in fact they added at least one new Guru who is actually part of the console team. I saw him on twitter this morning - he was introduced by Lindsay. Maxis is growing not lessening - also the console company has their own teams. I believe this new Guru is the go between -
Introducing Michael Duke - Sim Guru Duke -
https://twitter.com/SimGuruDuke
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Then why does it seem there is less content coming out than previous versions? If they have more developers working on TS4 we should still be seeing an EP coming out every 6 months, not 1 per year. If this is their new direction, I don't like it!
"If you build it, they will come." - Movie: Field of Dreams
First of all there were two full ep teams and a full store team for Sims 3 - In Sims 4 there is 1 of each kind of teams.
More importantly in Sims 3 or 2 we did not have gps, we did not have a team for freebies and fix it - and we did not have an investigative team and people working with the other sims games. So the actually more people but doing more things. We have the gp team that does indepth single idea game and an ep team that covers 3 or more ideas. Some people do not realize the gp team is as big as an ep team and work just as hard - but with a difference - their whole focus is on one theme instead of spread out into 3 or more directions with ep. So technicall we do have two ep teams - just one makes really nice gps and overall gps are found to be better received than eps. Technically we get more but instead of scattered like former eps the gp is more indepth.
Like I have already posted we need to forget about Sims 1-2 - and 3 on how they were made. We have to forget every 5 years there was a reboot. All that was then, this is now and the future. This is all they tried hard to tell us that we just couldn't hear or didn't want to hear. Sims 4 I understand IS the new direction all EA games are taking. The CEO is impressed and happy is all I know. But the studio has no option anyway - this is where the company wants the game to go and that's where it goes. It is understandable why now they catered more toward new players and less toward all us Vets. I am now seeing much of what the devs spent the last 3 years trying to tell us. It finally makes sense.
I have to admit I will miss the way it used to be done - but the game is growing with newbies and they seem very happy with this new direction for the most part.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I just can't fathom the cognitive dissonance when it comes to this point.
I mean even if two GP's technically don't quite equal one EP...how far off can the differential actually be?
No matter how many times this point get's mentioned people seem to completely ignore it.
It bogglres the mind.
I know - and what is funny so far the gps all get much higher ratings from the pros at metacritic than the eps - well outside of the first one - but that is understandable.
I actually love the GPs to be honest and get way more play value out of them than either one of the first two eps.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
IMO a GP is equivalent to approximately 5 eighths of an EP, especially with regard to subject-depth.
Great if I have stock, bad if I actually want a fun game. Because I ain't loving this Sims 4
Yeah OK that kinda makes sense.
Supernaturals will probably finish coming in GP's.. Vamps is the start of that in my opinion.
Dine Out... which I suppose can be compared to parts of past EP's is another one that is a partial replacement. Nightlife (I'm thinking of Sims 2 since I did not play 3 has been scattered into other packs and patched in freebies with some elements still to be seen.. for example cars. Low and behold there is Guru that requested our input on how to do them. So to me that says they are in the works in some form. I also think those will come in a GP at some point.
We don't know how Seasons will come... conceivably it could be split up into GP's. Weather basically in one. More seasonal activities in other packs... GP's, SP's and maybe even some of the past broad ideas will show up in an EP. I can see it happening.
I can even see University being somehow split up if they mostly give us the tools and framework to build one.. but I'm betting on an EP for that.
Even Stardom possibilities could be split up into GP's if they are focused around one type of entertainment group at a time.
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe Wall Street should try playing the games.
So EA has always released a new basegame after at most 5 years. Fans of the game have never liked that and then just want all the old things back and EA has often partly satisfied them by switching between EPs with new content and EPs that mostly are repetitions of EPs from the previous game. But EA knows that if there are too many repetions then reviews will start talking about the lack of new ideas and that maybe the whole game series is close to its end? This will then be read by young teens who want new games and ideas for their generation and not just their mom's games in shined up repetitions. So they will likely look elsewhere for their next game.
The difference between EA's idea about renewing the game as much as possible and old fan ideas about getting everything from the previous game back for the current game is now bigger and more problematic than ever before because EA doesn't even want to release many EPs anymore. Sales numbers have shown EA that SPs sell best. Then GPs sell next best while EPs actually sell worst because they are too expensive for many teens to buy for their pocket money. Young teens can often pursuade their parents to pay if the expansions are very cheap and especially SPs are just that.
Earlier I knew that young teens had the same problem but solved it by wishing the EPs for their birthdays and for Christmas because they told us in the Danish Sims 2 forum where there often were happy messages saying "My birthday is in 2 months and then I will also get the new EP that EA just released
So EA wants to mainly now release SPs and a few GPs and more or less drop the EPs completely and EA also wants to use this to renew the game as much as possible. Therefore I don't believe that TS4 ever will get nearly as much old things repeated in the expansions as TS3 got from the Sims 2 expansions.
But I am still sure that EA once again will release a new basegame called Sims 5 after at most 5 years (and therefore most likely in 2019)
This is why I said we have to forget the way Sims was -
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Also make note the Conference call on Thursday says just that. Apparently the Sims has never done so well as noted:
"Q1 2018 Electronic Arts Inc Earnings Call
Redwood City Jul 28, 2017 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Electronic Arts Inc earnings conference call or presentation Thursday, July 27, 2017 at 9:00:00pm GMT
Blake J. Jorgensen, Electronic Arts Inc. - Executive VP & CFO:
(Excerpt from how each of EA's big titles are performing:)
Notably, Sims 4 packs continue to perform extremely well, and the last 12 months have been the best in the title's history. Both EA Access and Origin Access are up year-on-year. Remember, we have merged extra content and subscriptions, ads and other into this new live services category."
Believe me I was just as shocked as most of my friends are to think the Sims 4 really is outselling and on top of that the most played of all the Sims games. So people are not just buying the game - they are playing it in amazing numbers daily.
It now makes sense why the devs keep telling us we are a very small minority of the worlds players that love the sims and play it. It is obvious why they don't and won't look back at the other Sims games when they are receiving this kind of reception on a daily basis and actually have the proof.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I'm sorry but that article made me laugh. He says these games are all about what the player wants and giving them fun experiences but this game is just not fun. I get that there are people who enjoy Sims 4, but I'm finding it's getting less and less interesting as time goes on. I know I'm not the only person who feels this way.
I see nothing wrong with the game pack model itself but Expansions are not living up to their potential. They're mostly repeating old content with the exception of Get Together which introduced clubs and I think that's really a useful part of gameplay. But there's not enough. And maybe it would all be better received if I knew in January that we'd be getting 3 GPs and an EP in the year to come. I think their tactic is to keep people starved for content that whenever something new does come out, no matter how underdeveloped it is, they will just buy it because they do desperately want a new experience. I'm not following that any longer, and that's a BIG change for me in the way I've felt about The Sims.
I have been enthusiastic about all Sims releases, even the Sims 4 base game. It fell short, though, and I've felt it's still not living up to its predecessors in terms of being a fun game. I do not care what content gets released as much as I care about a fun experience. I'm not having fun anymore. So I play other games and I only buy Sims 4 packs on sale. Even titles I really want, I will wait for a sale before purchasing now. I just cannot justify paying full price for something that I already know is only going to hold my attention for a short time.
If anything, the article above tells me there will be a Sims 5 in the next five years.
Actually clubs are not new Sims 2 and Sims 3 have clubs. They are producing what is asked for though - apparently we are not the loudest voices is all I can say - as I was definitely surprised to see Sims 4 not only outsells previous versions - the ones who play it daily - their numbers are huge and growing.
But the only reason clubs facade as something new - is the way they implemented them this go round. In previous games Clubs were a players choice whether or not you joined and more individualized - where as in Sims 4 the player can group them and control the group. Reminds me very much of the group outings in former games - but in the Sims 4 they made the group outings using the club format combined. But they are not new at all - just how they work is new.
To be honest I don't play the clubs as I sort of like the way Sims 2 clubs worked a lot better - and miss the competitions and things we got with the Sims 2 clubs and the secret club houses and such. I still love doing the bake -offs and stuff when I play Sims 2. It was so much more indepth than Sims 4 clubs - to me.
ETA - Personally I would love for there to be a Sims 5 - as I so want them to put the Sims on EA's Frostbyte 3 engine - with open world and endless abilities that engine has. Sims would have no limits on a Frostbyte - then we'd see a Sims game. Of course a lot of players would need better pc's for sure - but my dream is to see the Sims on the Frostbyte 3.
Believe me Sims 4 technically gives me claustrophobia with it's teeny tiny worlds and compactness. Give me back the hugeness and open-ness please - EA and the amazing Frostbyte engine......
So yes - you make my heart soar seeing that - as that is not the way I saw it at all. i have hope again. Thank you....
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I don't want to imply by the way everything has to remain old school, because in the past some things didn't work that perfectly either. I'm just not convinced by the product, no matter how good a read the theory is. Regardless what you think of Sims 4: an empty basegame and then tons of stuff packs and scattershot gameplay, is that the future? Is everybody going to swollow that?
Again, I don't know the first thing about gaming so maybe others can elighten me: is this EA vision or global vision? The games my son plays don't cost him up till €500, that's for sure. He laughs at me.
(by the way, what he is describing, people staying loyal to a game and playing it for hours and hours, that's Sims 1, 2 and 3)