So let me start off by saying that I've been switching back and forth between Sims 1, 3 and 4 and every time I return to 4, I fall in love with it. I love the visuals, the immersiveness, the character design, the lighting, the EPs and SPs you've offered so far. I think that Clubs are the best and most underrated addition to the sims franchise. I'm also happy to hear that the political career is back.
BUT...
I am kind of disappointed in the job aspect of the game. It's not just because staples like the military and education track are still missing. Something about jobs in this iteration feels underdeveloped. AFAIK, unlike previous Sims, adults have no option to work at part time jobs like they used to in the past. I can't speak for anyone else, but I've always had adults in my games working those types of jobs as well and I feel like my gameplay is being limited now that they're missing.
Some of the job offerings seem redundant, like variations on or extensions of a preexisting career track. Critic, IMO, should've been branches of the Writer career, IMO.
I'm also not fond of how heavily skewed everything is towards web 2.0./social media/creative, etc. I get it. This is the Facebook/Instagram/Twitter generation but how about bringing back more traditional professions for the rest of us or for people who want to play sims in more traditional jobs? And please bring back military and education.
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This I agree with. If they want to overhaul professions, I think this is one route to go. Have more variety in branches. Put the critic and social media career back under Writer, add more branches to the pre-existing ones.
I'd be okay with that if we could switch branches, but as it is, I'd rather they don't make more than two in a career.
The Sims has always been an important part of my life, and may it continue to be so! Long live Sims!
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I love mods I have some custom careers as well.
yeah I was thinking if they wanted to redo careers for future sim games I think it would be interesting if they got rid of levels(level one, two, three) and instead your sim would have a choice between pursuing certain branches like nurse, doctor, ceo, business temp. but i dunno how that would work ingame because it sounds good in theory but actually applying it might be complicated, lol.
I think they could still do an ambitions style game pack. I always thought they would add new careers with GPs & EPs, but there hasn't been much. I'm hoping they release a Back to School GP and University EP so we could have a teaching career as well as others. I miss how they use to release one pack and if you have another one installed, you get new content or add-ons to your game from having both.
Yes, I'm desperate, too. This is the first time since playing the franchise that I've ever felt frustrated by the lack of career options. I just don't understand why there's been such an aversion to careers this time around in TS4. Not only were part time jobs cut for adults, the old standbys from Sims 1 are still gone (military, education) and the new ones barely qualify as careers (social media? critic?). Is it a generational thing, where we've got people in charge who think that traditional careers are now obsolete and it's all 2.0/social media/creative now? Or are they thinking that because so many players are young, no one wants to play these types of careers anymore, that everyone wants to be PewDiePie or Perez Hilton?
Do check the comments on MTS. That's where a currently working version of the mod is.
@luthienrising Thanks! I will!
The Tudor Legacy
I too wish the game had more 'traditional jobs" I think it's almost unrealistic in storytelling that you can have a whole family who just happen to be astronauts and super villains. In real life that's just not likely.
I would love more jobs. The sims 1-3 had fantastic careers. I would also want the daily task thing scrapped. My sim goes to work all day, it's always bothered me that she has to spend her own free time programming or making x amount of drinks or meals. Of course in some careers, they may require more input away from work but not every career. Especially not having to do it every time your sim goes to work. I preferred the old way when you needed x number of points in a certain skill for promotion. Once you had the points it was a case of going to work in a good mood and hoping your sims didn't slack off.
I dunno i think it is maybe a generation thing but when i heard there was a political career i was happy. Like i said b4 more variety of jobs would be nice and just more to choose from in gernal would be awsome
You can, actually. My scientist got promoted twice without me accompanying her to work. I just find it easier and more fun when I'm overseeing her actions at work myself, making sure she fulfills her daily tasks.
Speaking of which, my main problem with the careers in TS4 is how hard it is to get anywhere in them. One of my sims is a politician at level 9, and one promotion requirement is to collect donations of 20,000 simoleons. 20,000! I was desperate to collect 5,000 for the previous promotion, when all you can ask for at a time is like 250, and that only works if your relationship with the other sim is high enough. Now the game seriously expects me to collect four times that amount. It's not impossible, but it will take forever, more time than I would have if I played with aging on. And even then, even when you leave the house with all your physical motives in the green, the perfect emotion, the daily task done and all requirements fulfilled, in my experience there's still only a very low chance of actually getting promoted. Another sim of mine in the author branch was stuck at level 8 for ages even though she kept writing books like a lunatic, so I eventually had to resort to the wishing well to get her promoted.
I don't want it to be a walk in the park like it was in TS2, especially not at higher career levels which are supposed to be more challenging, but it would be nice to still have a little control over my sims' job performance and actually get rewarded for fulfilling all the requirements. If Maxis/EA won't do it, I'll gladly take a fan mod too, but I haven't found one yet.
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
This can be a good or bad thing. For instance, if you want your sim to stay put as a nurse or beat cop, all you have to do is stop going to work with him/her once they reach that level and you're good. However, if you're gunning for the top rank, it can be a long slog...especially with the Doctor career. I mean, at least with Detective you can put your own Law and Order / CSI / NCIS / Perry Mason (Didn't see that last reference coming from someone under 45, did you?) spin on each case in your head. Doctor? It's chat, swab, analyze, diagnose, cure, repeat for nine straight levels with a non-stop flow of patients that have to be ground out in a short period of time (none of their cases carries over to the next day) and co-workers who are forever in the way. No room to roleplay House / Diagnosis Murder / E.R. / Blackjack at all! Takes the fat out of the biscuit, as the saying goes.
Actually, though, I'd like to see some new careers too. For instance, a Contractor career with Construction and Plumbing branches and a Mechanic career with Auto Repair and Body Shop branches. Exciting careers and desk jobs are cool, but a few more down-to-Earth/"Blue Collar" jobs for our more humble sims (or those who want to appear humble...like aliens in hiding...?) would be nice too.
The only actual jobs in the game that catch my interest are the active ones that let me do something in the game. Then the money doesn't matter so much. But I'd rather actively earn the money than just let my Sims disappear into the rabbitholes. And the hobbies tend to be more fun anyway.
Bloodlines: Gustav & Ishka's Legacy | Family Tree: Echo + Plum | ID: Jalooloo
Oh, okay. I haven't tried these other two careers yet (I'd love to be a detective, but people keep complaining about how buggy it is), so I didn't know that. I'd love to have more active careers, but the game shouldn't force you to accompany your sim every day to get promoted.
Then again, do you really have to participate that much? For example, if the next promotion in the doctor career requires you to treat a set number of patients, can't you just do it all in one day and then send the sim off alone for the rest of the time until they get promoted? Of course, you'd have to repeat this process at least eight more times to get to the highest level, but at least you don't have to go every day.
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
I'm glad someone likes them!
I was indifferent to it at first but the larger my households became and the longer I played, the more I started to resent it. I know you don't have to do it but it just feels too linear for me. I prefer the earlier methods in previous games with careers to get ahead
From my experience, because of how long it can take to do a successful diagnosis, the frequency with which co-workers get between you and the patients or necessary equipment, the fact that you have to treat each patient the very day they're admitted because there is no carry-over like the cases for Detective, and having to hand-admit patients when there's a backup in the lobby because none of your shiftless co-workers will admit anyone on their own...Yeah, being there every day to earn that promotion is kind of a must. That's especially true if getting promoted requires you to do something that requires the RNG to hand you a specific case like performing surgery or delivering babies. It's a rare thing where you actually get the requirement done and can just sit back the next work day or two and let the promotion slide on in on its own.
With Detective, each case typically takes two active work days to solve. The first day is visiting the crime scene, gathering evidence, and analyzing clues. The second day you finish going through your evidence, find and arrest your perp, book 'em, and do the interrogation. The only thing that can get in your way there is when your co-workers hog all the computers or the analyzer (Yes, co-workers in your way is just a universal problem in all of the active careers...At least in the Scientist one you can order, mind control, or freeze ray them out of the way...which is why Scientist is the best.). Again, the flow of this job is much more immersive than Doctor because it allows the player more space and time to insert their own story and bring their sim's personality into it better. You can be a good cop or a bad cop, be a sneaky jerk or play everything by the book, you can be a tyrant or a saint in the interrogation room...it's really fun. Because of that, I really don't mind going in most days to fill the promotion requirements. It's like I'm playing my own personal crime drama. Doctor? It's just too crunched and rushed to be much fun or have much replay value for me.