I would agree with players being turned away from the DLC in The Sims 4. The problem concerns is the fact that the game only has two Expansion Packs that add useful Worlds and extra lots and it doesn't help that Get Together and City Life are subject to debates over whatever they're worth purchasing. The Stuff Packs with the possible exception of Perfect Patio, Cool Kitchen, Romantic Garden, and Vintage Glamour have the same issue.
If I have to be perfectly honest, I think the expansion pack team should be folded into the game pack. Of the two I am consistently disappointed with the expansion packs but I LOVE the game packs. City living came with so many draw backs it's one of only two packs I never plan to buy. Get to work was a great concept but just falls a bit short. I love the club system from get together and the new world is nice, but there isn't much engaging content there. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't give up Get together since I use the club system a lot, but in terms of different activities to do for the $40 price tag I'm not impressed.
When it comes to game packs I feel they deliver strong on the theme. But that is the draw back, it's a narrow focus. So everything in the game pack is aimed toward that single theme, but where game packs win over expansion packs is they do their theme WELL. Expansion packs in my opinion, try to do a lot of stuff and wind up with nothing being done well.
Stuff packs are usually well done, but I'm kind of sick of them. And the stuff pack from the teaser most likely will go on my never buy list as nothing about the hinted theme appeals to me. I will wait and see though.
"Parenting is just like gardening, except if you let your garden die you don't go to prison." - Anna Blast
"especially if you didn't pay $80 to get both Get Together and City Life which includes 1 extra World."
Wait, WHAT? You get an extra world if you bought the combo?? How big? What is it called? Can someone post the map? And how do the rest of us that bought the EPs separately get this lovely bit of real estate?
"especially if you didn't pay $80 to get both Get Together and City Life which includes 1 extra World."
Wait, WHAT? You get an extra world if you bought the combo?? How big? What is it called? Can someone post the map? And how do the rest of us that bought the EPs separately get this lovely bit of real estate?
I don't know what they're referring to. There's only WB and SM, unless they mean Newcrest which has been a base game world for two years now.
I think they meant you only get 1 world in each pack, referring to the lack of lots to place all the items etc that come with all the stuff packs and game packs
I was trying to refer to the fact that Get Together and City Life both have one World each. If you want the extra lots (and you will need them), purchasing the two packs is the only way to get additional lots but that is going to cost you $80 for both plus taxes unless The Sims 4 is on sale which will be $40 instead.
What's going on under the hood with story progression when they add a new hood?
Do unplayed hoods lie msotly dormant?
Or is the game running rudimentary calculations for Sims living in other worlds increasing resource demand ever so slightly with each new hood added? Is the game tracking work schedules, and other basic story progression elements on the fly or are these calculations being made at the loading screen?
For example we know that the game tracks festivals in CL and transmits this data across all hoods in the game.
We also know that fans have complained about a performance hit across all hoods just for having the pack installed.
The answers to these questions may be a factor as to why they seem a bit stingy with the number of lots they want running in the game at any given time.
A thing I've noticed is that EA seems to favor Stuff Packs over Expansion Packs and even Game Packs often releasing the former frequently while seldom releasing the latter two. This is evident in 2016 where TS4 only got one, yes one, Expansion Pack (City Life) and one Game Pack (Dine Out) but gotten five Stuff Packs (Movie Hangout, Romantic Garden, Backyard, Kids Room, and Vintage Glamour).
The problem of focusing too much on Stuff Packs over Expansion Packs is that it comes at the expense of extra Worlds (and lots) and extra Goals along with new features and given the smaller selection of lots in The Sims 4, the extra Worlds with a reasonable amount of lots is pretty much needed. As @MidnightAuramentioned, many of the empty lots will probably be used from EA's lots that are included in some Packs such as Spas especially if you didn't pay $80 to get both Get Together and City Life which includes 1 extra World each. The Gallery makes the situation worse since the downloaded lots will take up the empty lots.
I don't mind the Stuff Packs as The Sims 4 needs extra content like objects and clothes even if most of them aren't considered good but I think The Sims 4 should get more Expansion Packs and more Game Packs even if the former isn't considered good as previous games' EPs.
Do you think The Sims 4 should get more EPs/GPs?
I don't think another EP would interest me, if it would cause the lagging and other trouble that I had with City Life. Then it sounds that a greater idea with smaller packs.
What's going on under the hood with story progression when they add a new hood?
Do unplayed hoods lie msotly dormant?
Or is the game running rudimentary calculations for Sims living in other worlds increasing resource demand ever so slightly with each new hood added? Is the game tracking work schedules, and other basic story progression elements on the fly or are these calculations being made at the loading screen?
For example we know that the game tracks festivals in CL and transmits this data across all hoods in the game.
We also know that fans have complained about a performance hit across all hoods just for having the pack installed.
The answers to these questions may be a factor as to why they seem a bit stingy with the number of lots they want running in the game at any given time.
I don't believe that the number of lots matters. But the total numbers of Sims sure does.
I also don't believe that the game does anything "behind the loading screen". But the game probably like most othe games nowadays do some multitasking in the background to check different things and update them.
Hood that never have been played shouldn't slow the game down at all because nothing happen in them and there are no reasons for the game to check them in the background.
If you can see if sims in other world have finished their work while you are playing elsewhere then it shows that such such things are checked and registered in the background.
The game doesn't "transmit" information between the world. But the status for your sims are probably registered in a global database which is common for all worlds.
The background tasks shouldn't usually slow the game down because the game should usually give such tasks low priority such that they only run while the game engine isn't too busy. But sometimes updating information about sims in other worlds can be so vital that it would be unreasonable to just let your game play on before the information is updated.
A thing I've noticed is that EA seems to favor Stuff Packs over Expansion Packs and even Game Packs often releasing the former frequently while seldom releasing the latter two. This is evident in 2016 where TS4 only got one, yes one, Expansion Pack (City Life) and one Game Pack (Dine Out) but gotten five Stuff Packs (Movie Hangout, Romantic Garden, Backyard, Kids Room, and Vintage Glamour).
The problem of focusing too much on Stuff Packs over Expansion Packs is that it comes at the expense of extra Worlds (and lots) and extra Goals along with new features and given the smaller selection of lots in The Sims 4, the extra Worlds with a reasonable amount of lots is pretty much needed. As @MidnightAuramentioned, many of the empty lots will probably be used from EA's lots that are included in some Packs such as Spas especially if you didn't pay $80 to get both Get Together and City Life which includes 1 extra World each. The Gallery makes the situation worse since the downloaded lots will take up the empty lots.
I don't mind the Stuff Packs as The Sims 4 needs extra content like objects and clothes even if most of them aren't considered good but I think The Sims 4 should get more Expansion Packs and more Game Packs even if the former isn't considered good as previous games' EPs.
Do you think The Sims 4 should get more EPs/GPs?
I don't think another EP would interest me, if it would cause the lagging and other trouble that I had with City Life. Then it sounds that a greater idea with smaller packs.
Smaller packs will eventually cause the same issues. I have CL and haven't noticed any lag, but it's common for DLC intensive games to bog down as more stuff is added. It can be more or less apparent depending on the machine you're playing on. Having lots of CC can also affect your games performance.
A thing I've noticed is that EA seems to favor Stuff Packs over Expansion Packs and even Game Packs often releasing the former frequently while seldom releasing the latter two. This is evident in 2016 where TS4 only got one, yes one, Expansion Pack (City Life) and one Game Pack (Dine Out) but gotten five Stuff Packs (Movie Hangout, Romantic Garden, Backyard, Kids Room, and Vintage Glamour).
The problem of focusing too much on Stuff Packs over Expansion Packs is that it comes at the expense of extra Worlds (and lots) and extra Goals along with new features and given the smaller selection of lots in The Sims 4, the extra Worlds with a reasonable amount of lots is pretty much needed. As @MidnightAuramentioned, many of the empty lots will probably be used from EA's lots that are included in some Packs such as Spas especially if you didn't pay $80 to get both Get Together and City Life which includes 1 extra World each. The Gallery makes the situation worse since the downloaded lots will take up the empty lots.
I don't mind the Stuff Packs as The Sims 4 needs extra content like objects and clothes even if most of them aren't considered good but I think The Sims 4 should get more Expansion Packs and more Game Packs even if the former isn't considered good as previous games' EPs.
Do you think The Sims 4 should get more EPs/GPs?
I don't think another EP would interest me, if it would cause the lagging and other trouble that I had with City Life. Then it sounds that a greater idea with smaller packs.
Smaller packs will eventually cause the same issues. I have CL and haven't noticed any lag, but it's common for DLC intensive games to bog down as more stuff is added. It can be more or less apparent depending on the machine you're playing on. Having lots of CC can also affect your games performance.
I haven't got lag either thankfully but you are right, eventually all the stuff packs and game packs are going to slow the game down and some people will notice it faster than others.
Comments
When it comes to game packs I feel they deliver strong on the theme. But that is the draw back, it's a narrow focus. So everything in the game pack is aimed toward that single theme, but where game packs win over expansion packs is they do their theme WELL. Expansion packs in my opinion, try to do a lot of stuff and wind up with nothing being done well.
Stuff packs are usually well done, but I'm kind of sick of them. And the stuff pack from the teaser most likely will go on my never buy list as nothing about the hinted theme appeals to me. I will wait and see though.
Wait, WHAT? You get an extra world if you bought the combo?? How big? What is it called? Can someone post the map? And how do the rest of us that bought the EPs separately get this lovely bit of real estate?
I don't know what they're referring to. There's only WB and SM, unless they mean Newcrest which has been a base game world for two years now.
Do unplayed hoods lie msotly dormant?
Or is the game running rudimentary calculations for Sims living in other worlds increasing resource demand ever so slightly with each new hood added? Is the game tracking work schedules, and other basic story progression elements on the fly or are these calculations being made at the loading screen?
For example we know that the game tracks festivals in CL and transmits this data across all hoods in the game.
We also know that fans have complained about a performance hit across all hoods just for having the pack installed.
The answers to these questions may be a factor as to why they seem a bit stingy with the number of lots they want running in the game at any given time.
I don't think another EP would interest me, if it would cause the lagging and other trouble that I had with City Life. Then it sounds that a greater idea with smaller packs.
I also don't believe that the game does anything "behind the loading screen". But the game probably like most othe games nowadays do some multitasking in the background to check different things and update them.
Hood that never have been played shouldn't slow the game down at all because nothing happen in them and there are no reasons for the game to check them in the background.
If you can see if sims in other world have finished their work while you are playing elsewhere then it shows that such such things are checked and registered in the background.
The game doesn't "transmit" information between the world. But the status for your sims are probably registered in a global database which is common for all worlds.
The background tasks shouldn't usually slow the game down because the game should usually give such tasks low priority such that they only run while the game engine isn't too busy. But sometimes updating information about sims in other worlds can be so vital that it would be unreasonable to just let your game play on before the information is updated.
Smaller packs will eventually cause the same issues. I have CL and haven't noticed any lag, but it's common for DLC intensive games to bog down as more stuff is added. It can be more or less apparent depending on the machine you're playing on. Having lots of CC can also affect your games performance.
I haven't got lag either thankfully but you are right, eventually all the stuff packs and game packs are going to slow the game down and some people will notice it faster than others.