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is nobody alarmed that vital gameplay is now sold in SPs?
With butlers being SP exclusive, the way that I see it, this is an excellent business strategy. EA can churn out a 7£ stuff pack every month with a single gameplay element that would be important enough for us to fork over money (thieves, policemen, firemen, washing machines) and if enough players get excited about getting their favorite feature back and agree to pay 7£ a month, what is the point in even making expansion packs?
This is actually a great way to sell less for more and more often, very good for the franchise, however I see exactly 0 people worrying about it. Meaning happy customer, happy EA, even though in reality we're getting less for more cash.
This is actually a great way to sell less for more and more often, very good for the franchise, however I see exactly 0 people worrying about it. Meaning happy customer, happy EA, even though in reality we're getting less for more cash.
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SPs also seem to cover this as well like you suggested. A dishwasher came with the kitchen one although it was actually free in the patch meaning the only things you where paying for was some kitchen items. The kids SP seemed cool with the 'monster under the bed' but I see the hype for that died off months ago
Also, we don't have an SP a month - not even close.
And this one has much more than a single gameplay element, as do several of the others. I suspect that a lot of development had to go into the Butler, too: It's an NPC but lives with your Sims without adding to the household count; there are new animations (see the screenshots and trailer) and actions, a new doorlock type; the NPC can quit the job, not just be fired. And that's not starting on the vanity table's new animations and temporary makeup that doesn't require going into CAS mode.
My sense from the feedback here and on Twitter has been that, on balance, people who actually like Sims 4 have been really happy with the last year of Stuff Packs and felt they were good value. I've seen a few who like the game complain that they only want EPs because the kind of gameplay they value doesn't involve "stuff," but they seem far fewer to me.
@king_of_simcity7 Do you honestly think that people not spending six whole months raving on social media about the monster under the bed means they got bored with it? What's the point in spending six months going on about one of the game's many features? I'm pretty sure most of us can balance our attention better than that.
I'm more surprised about how happy everyone is about it. Like "yay, my favorite feature coming back in a stuff pack!". Maybe it's because all unhappy people have finally gave up and now we just have a far smaller simmer representation that is gobbling up EA's advertisement campaign?
weren't you the one that was also overjoyed with a boost week? If you knew that they had a choice between selling you the butler and giving you one for free in an update, you would probably still sit here telling us what a great decision it was to sell you the butler and give you a free cheat ahem meant "boost week".
No, I wasn't "overjoyed" with a boost week. I haven't used those boost weeks at all. But I understand that many other players do like the boost week - it's not all about me me me - and that after the first one was coded, there's unlikely to be much time involved at all to code later ones, like the one we just had. Certainly not even remotely close to the coding and animation work that would have needed to be done for the Butler NPC.
And no, I have no objection to paying for things that involve someone's extensive work time. I work too, on cultural products that people pay for (except reviewers and that sort of thing, or people who win theirs etc. - sometimes I get a copy of what I worked on, sometimes not). It's how the world goes round. I'm fine with that. I even pay for music and journalism.
I think it's really cool that sometimes we actually get stuff patched in instead of having to buy it. It's entirely unnecessary, but cool. I'm glad the game is profitable enough for that to happen. It's a good sign for the future. But it certainly doesn't mean that my personal wish list must be free, not paid.
Do I think it's a great decision to have us pay for something comparatively complex that we've never had any other way in previous games either and to patch in a short-term event that required little coding but nonetheless brings some players a bit of pleasure and pulls a few back to the game? Makes sense to me, yeah. Not everything can be patched in, and not everything is about and my personal wishlist.
EA is publishing company that publishes the games that Maxis (game development company) creates.
You can try to stir the pot if you to but if you sit and think about it. The stuff packs are really not that much different then sets one could buy from the TS3 store. Which by the way was nearly twice as much as money for twice as much less content with the greater majority of the sets.
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Considering the Stuff Packs are half the price of those from the previous two iterations and we get the same, if not more, content with them - as well as additional game-play, how are we only now paying more for less? Especially if you include The Sims 3 Store?
I would really like to see evidence to support your claim by the way.
Sometimes your creativity is limited where you use it most, but you can use those limitations to inspire new forms of creativity you may never have thought of beforehand.
Actually I like Stuff Packs having game-play in them, in fact, we are paying less for more, Stuff Packs for The Sims 4 are cheaper and actually contains content instead of just decoration. Compare to The Sims 3 Store, it's quite obviously an upgrade.
Note: Quoting "vital" due to being unsure as to whom or what constitutes such a vague term.
A lot of people didn't like the TS3 Store but I have no complaints.m
Why buy an EP when you might only want one or two items when the store has some sets, sometimes on discount with good valued items or worlds.m
Roaring Heights is an EP in itself really, if you get the bundle you get the boardwalk (I think you do anyway) and you get new decorative items that you cannot get anywhere else and it is a very large and open world with a lot of charm
It was the last major release for TS3 and helped the game go out with a bang. Funnily enough it still gets played now
I'm actually noticing the opposite. We are finally getting more content in SPs and only paying half the initial cost of what you'd be getting from store content from TS3.
Hi king! Cool kitchen came with an ice-cream maker as a premium object, not a dishwasher. It's actually really cool and has around 20 to 30 flavors. Every single ice-cream can be made in a cup or come and also has around 7 garnishes and 7 toppings you can customize too!
Also the monster under the bed was a patch. Kids room stuffs premium objects were a void critter station which let you collect trade and battle virtual reality cards like Pokemon. The other was a puppet theater where kids could perform plays for other kids and adults.
With all due respect, how is roaring heights EP quality?
Forgive me for asking, but how are we getting less for more when Sims 3 packs contained the same amount of items, was twice as expensive and didn't contain gameplay?
Also we are NOT getting a stuff pack every month, I suggest you edit your post as its incorrect.
Yes. I can totally see them selling Toddlers this way in a pack too.
Well... No. Not alarmed. Not even a little bit.
But butlers? Not so much.
Because currently we're getting one expansion pack a year. With how much "effort" they put in those, it would not surprise me if with SPs like that EA's metric would show that SPs are more profitable than EPs and that they would drop EPs all together. It's alarming that SPs are getting more gameplay items and EPs are getting less, because this is the road we seem to be getting to. Everything will likely become more and more bite sized DLCs until we will literally turn into train simulator.
What did CL provide? Apartments that you can not place or move, festivals and a town. What did Roaring Heights provide? Apartments that you can place and move, a rollercoaster and a town.