Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.

Vampires or Casters?

Comments

  • HermitgirlHermitgirl Posts: 8,825 Member
    Casters Put The Magic in Magical
    I had so much fun laughing today over this thread ... we need a picture version :).
    egTcBMc.png
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    Casters Put The Magic in Magical
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.
    avatar art: Loves2draw1812
  • SimTrippySimTrippy Posts: 7,651 Member
    Casters Put The Magic in Magical
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.

    Very true @ your last sentence. Well, good thing I can enjoy it for at least 10 other simmers too ;)
  • BloosmooBloosmoo Posts: 754 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    I honestly love them both, but so much love went into the vampire pack..... it's a shame they didn't give aliens more to do but I'm greedy. the casters are great, I love them but it bugs me that the garden greenhouse is an area I'd literally kill to go into and can't. The magic school was incredibly empty, so that's a bit of a down. However vampires the lots were good, Vlads house was amazing, Vlad was amazing, Vlad, Vlad, Vlad..... I really wanted an equal love of gameplay choice....you made me choose *sobs* and now I made Morgyn cry...... :(
  • To7mTo7m Posts: 5,467 Member
    edited September 2019
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Spellcasters. No question about it. :p

    Well, I mean, in the time it takes you to cast Scrubadoo I could have my sink clean, and with a perk that only cost 500 points. Of course, that sink wouldn't be dirty in the first place because vampires are no longer governed by meat.

    After having to walk to the sink though. My magical sim can cast from afar.

    Honestly, these excuses are weak. Yes we have aspiration points, but you’ll run out eventually if you don’t cheat. You can only earn so many. I can cast scruberoo countless times.... from down the street or I can teleport. And yes vampire have mist form but unless you’re a vampire... that ain’t helping you anytime soon. You’d even have to learn the wellness skill, then meditate, then teleport...

    Like, yeah, magic is cheating in a way. That’s kinda the point of it. So carry on cleaning your sinks by hand, while we wave our wands from the beach in Sulani 🤷🏼‍♂️

    Coconut drinks anyone?

    —T
  • CelSimsCelSims Posts: 2,270 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.

    Speaking of proving a point, I was curious so I tested, From loading game to max level with all spells and potions known took me 41 minutes and that included stopping to see to a sick cat twice, fighting the gardener, (Thanks curses), and paying the bills. Guess I'll carry on and see how long to max all the perks.

    I haven't seen ANYONE who did it quickly saying its the only acceptable way. I can do it quickly, but with some of my casters I'm choosing not to. I understand that while I can slow down, other people may be unable to speed up and frankly I don't consider the speed the issue.
    The comments I have seen from people saying it's quick seem to more be complaining that the difficulty is too low. While I powered through it I completely ignored that I had 2 curses - one of which was the night wraith which I just drank potions through until I knew decursify. I never stopped to discharge and never overcharged. That is my only gripe with the pack, the ease and lack of consequences. I do love it and am really enjoying it.

    I also haven't seen anyone saying it was quick pointing a finger at the people who took longer to look around etc and telling them they're lying about it either....



  • To7mTo7m Posts: 5,467 Member
    edited September 2019
    CelSims wrote: »
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.

    Speaking of proving a point, I was curious so I tested, From loading game to max level with all spells and potions known took me 41 minutes and that included stopping to see to a sick cat twice, fighting the gardener, (Thanks curses), and paying the bills. Guess I'll carry on and see how long to max all the perks.

    I haven't seen ANYONE who did it quickly saying its the only acceptable way. I can do it quickly, but with some of my casters I'm choosing not to. I understand that while I can slow down, other people may be unable to speed up and frankly I don't consider the speed the issue.
    The comments I have seen from people saying it's quick seem to more be complaining that the difficulty is too low. While I powered through it I completely ignored that I had 2 curses - one of which was the night wraith which I just drank potions through until I knew decursify. I never stopped to discharge and never overcharged. That is my only gripe with the pack, the ease and lack of consequences. I do love it and am really enjoying it.

    I also haven't seen anyone saying it was quick pointing a finger at the people who took longer to look around etc and telling them they're lying about it either....




    Yeah, no. I want proof or I don’t believe you. Upload it to YouTube.

    Sorry, but I can play the sims for literal hours at a time, often a couple of days straight. I can play *fast* but even I’m not *that* good and I’ve been playing this game since TS1.

    41 minutes? There’s no way, I’m sorry. You’d have to play on super speed without pausing at all, plus there’s bugs with the book cases where sims don’t return books if you’re learning from tomes and the timing between being able to learn from a sage, and stock change is 24sim hours. It’s literally not possible without cheating. I know how the game works and what is do-able in reasonable time. That’s insane.

    —T

    Edit; just an fyi, there is no right way to play this game, if you want to play it like that then that’s fine, but I don’t believe you did it in 41mins. Not for 1second
  • CelSimsCelSims Posts: 2,270 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    To7m wrote: »
    CelSims wrote: »
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.

    Speaking of proving a point, I was curious so I tested, From loading game to max level with all spells and potions known took me 41 minutes and that included stopping to see to a sick cat twice, fighting the gardener, (Thanks curses), and paying the bills. Guess I'll carry on and see how long to max all the perks.

    I haven't seen ANYONE who did it quickly saying its the only acceptable way. I can do it quickly, but with some of my casters I'm choosing not to. I understand that while I can slow down, other people may be unable to speed up and frankly I don't consider the speed the issue.
    The comments I have seen from people saying it's quick seem to more be complaining that the difficulty is too low. While I powered through it I completely ignored that I had 2 curses - one of which was the night wraith which I just drank potions through until I knew decursify. I never stopped to discharge and never overcharged. That is my only gripe with the pack, the ease and lack of consequences. I do love it and am really enjoying it.

    I also haven't seen anyone saying it was quick pointing a finger at the people who took longer to look around etc and telling them they're lying about it either....




    Yeah, no. I want proof or I don’t believe you. Upload it to YouTube.

    Sorry, but I can play the sims for literal hours at a time, often a couple of days straight. I can play *fast* but even I’m not *that* good and I’ve been playing this game since TS1.

    41 minutes? There’s no way, I’m sorry. You’d have to play on super speed without pausing at all, plus there’s bugs with the book cases where sims don’t return books if you’re learning from tomes and the timing between being able to learn from a sage, and stock change is 24sim hours. It’s literally not possible without cheating. I know how the game works and what is do-able in reasonable time. That’s insane.

    —T

    Edit; just an fyi, there is no right way to play this game, if you want to play it like that then that’s fine, but I don’t believe you did it in 41mins. Not for 1second

    You can believe what you want. And if you think I was looking for books at any point then maybe you don't yet know what is doable in a reasonable time ;)

  • To7mTo7m Posts: 5,467 Member
    edited September 2019
    CelSims wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    CelSims wrote: »
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.

    Speaking of proving a point, I was curious so I tested, From loading game to max level with all spells and potions known took me 41 minutes and that included stopping to see to a sick cat twice, fighting the gardener, (Thanks curses), and paying the bills. Guess I'll carry on and see how long to max all the perks.

    I haven't seen ANYONE who did it quickly saying its the only acceptable way. I can do it quickly, but with some of my casters I'm choosing not to. I understand that while I can slow down, other people may be unable to speed up and frankly I don't consider the speed the issue.
    The comments I have seen from people saying it's quick seem to more be complaining that the difficulty is too low. While I powered through it I completely ignored that I had 2 curses - one of which was the night wraith which I just drank potions through until I knew decursify. I never stopped to discharge and never overcharged. That is my only gripe with the pack, the ease and lack of consequences. I do love it and am really enjoying it.

    I also haven't seen anyone saying it was quick pointing a finger at the people who took longer to look around etc and telling them they're lying about it either....




    Yeah, no. I want proof or I don’t believe you. Upload it to YouTube.

    Sorry, but I can play the sims for literal hours at a time, often a couple of days straight. I can play *fast* but even I’m not *that* good and I’ve been playing this game since TS1.

    41 minutes? There’s no way, I’m sorry. You’d have to play on super speed without pausing at all, plus there’s bugs with the book cases where sims don’t return books if you’re learning from tomes and the timing between being able to learn from a sage, and stock change is 24sim hours. It’s literally not possible without cheating. I know how the game works and what is do-able in reasonable time. That’s insane.

    —T

    Edit; just an fyi, there is no right way to play this game, if you want to play it like that then that’s fine, but I don’t believe you did it in 41mins. Not for 1second

    You can believe what you want. And if you think I was looking for books at any point then maybe you don't yet know what is doable in a reasonable time ;)

    Then I know you’re lying for sure, or cheating. You can’t ask the sages that many times for the spells, or practice enough to level up quick enough to learn the spells and even then, it’s not a sure thing you’d even learn a spell. 41 minutes? It takes a sim 60 RL seconds to even go to the toilet.

    Honestly, if you’re going to lie. Don’t do it to people that play the same game lol.

    —T
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    edited September 2019
    Casters Put The Magic in Magical
    CelSims wrote: »
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.

    Speaking of proving a point, I was curious so I tested, From loading game to max level with all spells and potions known took me 41 minutes and that included stopping to see to a sick cat twice, fighting the gardener, (Thanks curses), and paying the bills. Guess I'll carry on and see how long to max all the perks.

    I haven't seen ANYONE who did it quickly saying its the only acceptable way. I can do it quickly, but with some of my casters I'm choosing not to. I understand that while I can slow down, other people may be unable to speed up and frankly I don't consider the speed the issue.
    The comments I have seen from people saying it's quick seem to more be complaining that the difficulty is too low. While I powered through it I completely ignored that I had 2 curses - one of which was the night wraith which I just drank potions through until I knew decursify. I never stopped to discharge and never overcharged. That is my only gripe with the pack, the ease and lack of consequences. I do love it and am really enjoying it.

    I also haven't seen anyone saying it was quick pointing a finger at the people who took longer to look around etc and telling them they're lying about it either....

    Apologies, I hyperboled. However, people did say that because it's possible to max out a spellcaster that fast, it means the pack is useless and not worth buying. As a general statement about the quality of the pack, not just as how much they think the pack is worth for them. The ease of achieving specific goals was very much used to call the pack bad.

    It takes 41 minutes to learn all the potions and spells, but not create a Sim with the new CAS assets, build a house in the new world, go through the gameplay and find all the ways to use the newly learned spells, grow a garden, brew all potions after finding all the necessary ingredients, duel some of the other spellcaster Sims and more . All that I said was that people who said it takes an hour to do everything didn't actually do everything that the pack contains.

    For whatever it's worth, the first Caster SIm I played? Ended up with the Scrambled Spells and Uncontrollable Charge curses, both while I was trying to be careful with magic and he was still at a low level. That made for interesting navigation around magic until he learned Discharge (and even that is a risk to cast if you're at the danger level of charge). So the consequences are there, imo, though I understand that some people find them not enough. But while you still enjoy the pack, there are people on the forums for whom it's a reason to bash the pack (and dismiss those who do enjoy it). That's who I meant by people with points to prove.

    (Edited for typos)
    avatar art: Loves2draw1812
  • To7mTo7m Posts: 5,467 Member
    CelSims wrote: »
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.

    Speaking of proving a point, I was curious so I tested, From loading game to max level with all spells and potions known took me 41 minutes and that included stopping to see to a sick cat twice, fighting the gardener, (Thanks curses), and paying the bills. Guess I'll carry on and see how long to max all the perks.

    I haven't seen ANYONE who did it quickly saying its the only acceptable way. I can do it quickly, but with some of my casters I'm choosing not to. I understand that while I can slow down, other people may be unable to speed up and frankly I don't consider the speed the issue.
    The comments I have seen from people saying it's quick seem to more be complaining that the difficulty is too low. While I powered through it I completely ignored that I had 2 curses - one of which was the night wraith which I just drank potions through until I knew decursify. I never stopped to discharge and never overcharged. That is my only gripe with the pack, the ease and lack of consequences. I do love it and am really enjoying it.

    I also haven't seen anyone saying it was quick pointing a finger at the people who took longer to look around etc and telling them they're lying about it either....

    Apologies, I hyperboled. However, people did say that because it's possible to max out a spellcaster that fast, it means the pack is useless and not worth buying. As a general statement about the quality of the pack, not just as how much they think the pack is worth for them. The ease of achieving specific goals was very much used to call the pack bad.

    It takes 41 minutes to learn all the potions and spells, but not create a Sim with the new CAS assets, build a house in the new world, go through the gameplay and find all the ways to use the newly learned spells, grow a garden, brew all potions after finding all the necessary ingredients, duel some of the other spellcaster Sims and more . All that I said was that people who said it takes an hour to do everything didn't actually do everything that the pack contains.

    For whatever it's worth, the first Caster SIm I played? Ended up with the Scrambled Spells and Uncontrollable Charge curses, both while I was trying to be careful with magic and he was still at a low level. That made for interesting navigation around magic until he learned Discharge (and even that is a risk to cast if you're at the danger level of charge). So the consequences are there, imo, though I understand that some people find them not enough. But while you still enjoy the pack, there are people on the forums for whom it's a reason to bash the pack (and dismiss those who do enjoy it). That's who I meant by people with points to prove.

    (Edited for typos)

    I assume you’re talking about me? I wasn’t trying to prove anything (in fact I was asking *them* for proof)

    But you just proved my point even further. Curses! I forgot about those. My sim got a bunch while learning magic. Even still does sometimes at max rank. They’d definitely slow your sim down, one of them even causes your sim to faint.


    —T
  • CelSimsCelSims Posts: 2,270 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    To7m wrote: »
    CelSims wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    CelSims wrote: »
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.

    Speaking of proving a point, I was curious so I tested, From loading game to max level with all spells and potions known took me 41 minutes and that included stopping to see to a sick cat twice, fighting the gardener, (Thanks curses), and paying the bills. Guess I'll carry on and see how long to max all the perks.

    I haven't seen ANYONE who did it quickly saying its the only acceptable way. I can do it quickly, but with some of my casters I'm choosing not to. I understand that while I can slow down, other people may be unable to speed up and frankly I don't consider the speed the issue.
    The comments I have seen from people saying it's quick seem to more be complaining that the difficulty is too low. While I powered through it I completely ignored that I had 2 curses - one of which was the night wraith which I just drank potions through until I knew decursify. I never stopped to discharge and never overcharged. That is my only gripe with the pack, the ease and lack of consequences. I do love it and am really enjoying it.

    I also haven't seen anyone saying it was quick pointing a finger at the people who took longer to look around etc and telling them they're lying about it either....




    Yeah, no. I want proof or I don’t believe you. Upload it to YouTube.

    Sorry, but I can play the sims for literal hours at a time, often a couple of days straight. I can play *fast* but even I’m not *that* good and I’ve been playing this game since TS1.

    41 minutes? There’s no way, I’m sorry. You’d have to play on super speed without pausing at all, plus there’s bugs with the book cases where sims don’t return books if you’re learning from tomes and the timing between being able to learn from a sage, and stock change is 24sim hours. It’s literally not possible without cheating. I know how the game works and what is do-able in reasonable time. That’s insane.

    —T

    Edit; just an fyi, there is no right way to play this game, if you want to play it like that then that’s fine, but I don’t believe you did it in 41mins. Not for 1second

    You can believe what you want. And if you think I was looking for books at any point then maybe you don't yet know what is doable in a reasonable time ;)

    Then I know you’re lying for sure, or cheating. You can’t ask the sages that many times for the spells, or practice enough to level up quick enough to learn the spells and even then, it’s not a sure thing you’d even learn a spell. 41 minutes? It takes a sim 60 RL seconds to even go to the toilet.

    Honestly, if you’re going to lie. Don’t do it to people that play the same game lol.

    —T

    I spoke to the sages twice. Once when I asked them to make me a spellcaster. The second time when I went back to learn the ultimate spell. Go to the toilet? You know we can make needs potions right? Oh this girl doesn't even have a bloodline trait or it would've been faster, forgot to mention that.

    But hey, anyone that can do anything you can't is obviously lying or cheating. Sad thing is, I know other people could've done it even faster. If I see someone claiming 30m I won't be calling them a liar.
  • HermitgirlHermitgirl Posts: 8,825 Member
    Casters Put The Magic in Magical
    I loaded my virtuoso sim into a new save and started playing her about 2 hours ago. She has no restriction on learning spells because she's already high up. My goal is to relearn all the spells and potions on her. I've been going at it (mostly playing on normal speed). She goes home to sleep.. She's got about half the spells and potions back.
    I just don't see being able to do this any faster without great reward traits, cheats or learning the potions in the right order (luck) to get the needs potion early on ... which she still hasn't learned. I suppose cheating isn't out of the question to do this but I don't want to cheat.. it's a thing with me.
    I'd love to know how to do this on her way more quickly to set her up so I can play out what I actually want to on her... so tips on how that was actually done please @CelSims. I'd love to know the magic steps and the background of it.
    I know you can ask the Sages for a spell a day and learn a potion from them a few times a day. You can buy tomes from the vendor but they are what they are and change once a day I think? (but I'm not doing that on her because she's cheap). You can practice each school of knowledge on your own and that gives you a spell... but it takes different amounts of time for that and your sim is getting tired in the meantime. You can duel for knowledge but usually after a few duels even with good perks you start losing and risk being cursed.. so I only do this about once a day a few times in a row. She still hasn't learned the need potion yet so taking care of those things quickly is still not possible.
    egTcBMc.png
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    Casters Put The Magic in Magical
    To7m wrote: »
    CelSims wrote: »
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    LiELF wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    scoed wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I understand what you mean with it takes longer to make vamps powerful... but for me gameplay is playing all aspects of the game and I don't plan on limiting my witches to just being all powerful witches and done.

    In fairness, it is possible to simply have your sim research vampires on the computer to level them up in about 36 sim hours as well, so it is more how you play it. While not doing that will take a very long time for a vampire to level, playing your spellcaster without dueling for knowledge or just having them practice magic and going to make yourself a sandwich will produce similar results as far as the time to mastery.

    But you can't complete all the aspirations in that time as well, you can with casters. I have went from a non-caster to a supermax caster with everything, both aspirations, all spells learned, all potions learned, and all perks earned in just under 60 sim hours, taking care of every need along the way and maxing relationships with all the sages. No bloodline trait, no cheats. Sad thing is I know faster min/maxing is possible as I spent some time gathering ingredients and exploring the worlds as it was my first play through and mistakes were made. I will be honest though my sim was a "super starter sim" meaning I raised her up well as a kid and did all the childhood aspirations, earned the parenthood traits, earned top notch toddler, and the scouting aptitude trait as well. This may have contributed to faster XP gain or maybe not. Testing is needed to see if any of that mattered.

    60 sims hours is 60 real life minutes. There is no way. You can only ask for a new spell and potion once a day, the stores do not change stock until the next day either.

    Anyone saying they’ve maxed their spell caster in an *hour* is flat out lying imo. I’ve played this pack thoroughly since release and my current sim *still* doesn’t have all the tombs or ingredients as they haven’t shown up in the store yet.

    —T

    Yeah, I have to question the honesty of these claims as well. I just don't see how max advancement is even possible in such a short amount of time without cheats. In fact, I don't see how it's possible even with cheats. One hour? Nah. The time it takes for a Sim to "practice" anything is kind of long and not guaranteed to be successful, spells go wrong, potions backfire, the shops need to refresh, Sage teachings need to refresh, ingredients need to be foraged or found or successfully dueled, dueling is never a guaranteed win, Spellcasters get overcharged, and searching for tomes takes forever, plus time to study them, plus actually finding the right ones for your spell level... I just can't see it happening.

    Although I would like to see how they did it if someone wanted to throw a video up on Youtube of a turbo advancement without using any cheats. That would still be interesting to watch.

    Totally agree with you two. Every time I see this claimed I feel I must be exceptionally bad at this game and I just don't think that's true xD it took me a good 20 RL hours to have one sim learn all of the practical magic spells and all of the potions. Okay I'm sure it can be done faster than that but everything in one hour? It just doesn't seem very realistic to me unless you use some extremely cheaty gameplay, in which case I'm not the least bit surprised that it was boring.

    I think the big point here that those people aren't telling is "I did everything I personally care about in an hour" rather than everything the pack actually has to offer. I'm sure learning all the spells and potions can be done in an hour, on max speed and just grinding away on the learning and refilling needs with the appropriate potion.

    And also missing is the point that just because it's possible to do something that way, it's the only acceptable way for everyone and makes the pack useless. I have one spellcaster who's learned all the potions and spells and it still took me 20+ hours because there were other things to do besides grinding. But well, if one has a point to prove, one will find a way to do so, even if it's tweaking things to fit said point.

    Speaking of proving a point, I was curious so I tested, From loading game to max level with all spells and potions known took me 41 minutes and that included stopping to see to a sick cat twice, fighting the gardener, (Thanks curses), and paying the bills. Guess I'll carry on and see how long to max all the perks.

    I haven't seen ANYONE who did it quickly saying its the only acceptable way. I can do it quickly, but with some of my casters I'm choosing not to. I understand that while I can slow down, other people may be unable to speed up and frankly I don't consider the speed the issue.
    The comments I have seen from people saying it's quick seem to more be complaining that the difficulty is too low. While I powered through it I completely ignored that I had 2 curses - one of which was the night wraith which I just drank potions through until I knew decursify. I never stopped to discharge and never overcharged. That is my only gripe with the pack, the ease and lack of consequences. I do love it and am really enjoying it.

    I also haven't seen anyone saying it was quick pointing a finger at the people who took longer to look around etc and telling them they're lying about it either....

    Apologies, I hyperboled. However, people did say that because it's possible to max out a spellcaster that fast, it means the pack is useless and not worth buying. As a general statement about the quality of the pack, not just as how much they think the pack is worth for them. The ease of achieving specific goals was very much used to call the pack bad.

    It takes 41 minutes to learn all the potions and spells, but not create a Sim with the new CAS assets, build a house in the new world, go through the gameplay and find all the ways to use the newly learned spells, grow a garden, brew all potions after finding all the necessary ingredients, duel some of the other spellcaster Sims and more . All that I said was that people who said it takes an hour to do everything didn't actually do everything that the pack contains.

    For whatever it's worth, the first Caster SIm I played? Ended up with the Scrambled Spells and Uncontrollable Charge curses, both while I was trying to be careful with magic and he was still at a low level. That made for interesting navigation around magic until he learned Discharge (and even that is a risk to cast if you're at the danger level of charge). So the consequences are there, imo, though I understand that some people find them not enough. But while you still enjoy the pack, there are people on the forums for whom it's a reason to bash the pack (and dismiss those who do enjoy it). That's who I meant by people with points to prove.

    (Edited for typos)

    I assume you’re talking about me? I wasn’t trying to prove anything (in fact I was asking *them* for proof)

    But you just proved my point even further. Curses! I forgot about those. My sim got a bunch while learning magic. Even still does sometimes at max rank. They’d definitely slow your sim down, one of them even causes your sim to faint.


    —T

    No, it was about several people I've seen around the forums judging the pack based on their specific limited parameters (like, how fast can they learn all the spells) :)

    I love the curses, they make the gameplay that much more interesting (I'm deliberately avoiding that one perk just so I can test them out. Though I think my Sim's maybe a bit too leveled up now so it's time to push someone else to those limits lol.
    The scrambled spells one has hilarious results for sure, better ones the more spells the Sim knows.
    avatar art: Loves2draw1812
  • CelSimsCelSims Posts: 2,270 Member
    Vampires Always Vin

    It takes 41 minutes to learn all the potions and spells, but not create a Sim with the new CAS assets, build a house in the new world, go through the gameplay and find all the ways to use the newly learned spells, grow a garden, brew all potions after finding all the necessary ingredients, duel some of the other spellcaster Sims and more . All that I said was that people who said it takes an hour to do everything didn't actually do everything that the pack contains.

    For whatever it's worth, the first Caster SIm I played? Ended up with the Scrambled Spells and Uncontrollable Charge curses, both while I was trying to be careful with magic and he was still at a low level. That made for interesting navigation around magic until he learned Discharge (and even that is a risk to cast if you're at the danger level of charge). So the consequences are there, imo, though I understand that some people find them not enough. But while you still enjoy the pack, there are people on the forums for whom it's a reason to bash the pack (and dismiss those who do enjoy it). That's who I meant by people with points to prove.

    (Edited for typos)

    Oh absolutely. I know I sat in CAS for ages because I'm horrible at it. But I know when I say it was fast I don't consider CAS as game play :P Building, growing plants, going round finding potion ingredients, is that really this pack game play? I did all those things pre ROM.

    I obviously don't know what other people meant by 'everything' but certainly spell cast leveling can be quick and I suspect that is what they were really talking about. Either way it's a really fun pack. I just think people are being very rude pointing fingers at people and calling them liars.

    And sorry we are so offtopic, I'll get back to prepping my casters to be delicious vampire food :)
  • TX12001TX12001 Posts: 46 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    > @To7m said:
    > (Quote)
    >
    > After having to walk to the sink though. My magical sim can cast from afar.
    >
    > Honestly, these excuses are weak. Yes we have aspiration points, but you’ll run out eventually if you don’t cheat. You can only earn so many. I can cast scruberoo countless times.... from down the street or I can teleport. And yes vampire have mist form but unless you’re a vampire... that ain’t helping you anytime soon. You’d even have to learn the wellness skill, then meditate, then teleport...
    >
    > Like, yeah, magic is cheating in a way. That’s kinda the point of it. So carry on cleaning your sinks by hand, while we wave our wands from the beach in Sulani 🤷🏼‍♂️
    >
    > Coconut drinks anyone?
    >
    > —T

    You do realize Vampires have superior teleportation right?

    Bat Form > Broom as the Spellcaster tends to go outside first before they get on the room, the Vampire however will become a Bat from anywhere plus the animation is shorter so they get their quicker.

    Mist Form > Teleport as the animation I feel is shorter as well therefor they get their quicker.

    Vampiric Super Speed is also very useful, especially when you want to reorganize things, sometimes it is quicker to run from point A to Point B then use any form of teleportation, also yeah a Vampire will usually almost always beat a Spellcaster in a fight.
  • OEII1001OEII1001 Posts: 3,682 Member
    edited September 2019
    Vampires Always Vin
    To7m wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Spellcasters. No question about it. :p

    Well, I mean, in the time it takes you to cast Scrubadoo I could have my sink clean, and with a perk that only cost 500 points. Of course, that sink wouldn't be dirty in the first place because vampires are no longer governed by meat.

    After having to walk to the sink though. My magical sim can cast from afar.

    Honestly, these excuses are weak. Yes we have aspiration points, but you’ll run out eventually if you don’t cheat. You can only earn so many. I can cast scruberoo countless times.... from down the street or I can teleport. And yes vampire have mist form but unless you’re a vampire... that ain’t helping you anytime soon. You’d even have to learn the wellness skill, then meditate, then teleport...

    Like, yeah, magic is cheating in a way. That’s kinda the point of it. So carry on cleaning your sinks by hand, while we wave our wands from the beach in Sulani 🤷🏼‍♂️

    Coconut drinks anyone?

    —T

    It doesn't get dirty in the first place, meatsack. The only reason you stick wavers have to clean them in the first place is because you keep washing your hands after you.....excrete everywhere.
  • To7mTo7m Posts: 5,467 Member
    edited September 2019
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    To7m wrote: »
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    Spellcasters. No question about it. :p

    Well, I mean, in the time it takes you to cast Scrubadoo I could have my sink clean, and with a perk that only cost 500 points. Of course, that sink wouldn't be dirty in the first place because vampires are no longer governed by meat.

    After having to walk to the sink though. My magical sim can cast from afar.

    Honestly, these excuses are weak. Yes we have aspiration points, but you’ll run out eventually if you don’t cheat. You can only earn so many. I can cast scruberoo countless times.... from down the street or I can teleport. And yes vampire have mist form but unless you’re a vampire... that ain’t helping you anytime soon. You’d even have to learn the wellness skill, then meditate, then teleport...

    Like, yeah, magic is cheating in a way. That’s kinda the point of it. So carry on cleaning your sinks by hand, while we wave our wands from the beach in Sulani 🤷🏼‍♂️

    Coconut drinks anyone?

    —T

    It doesn't get dirty in the first place, meatsack. The only reason you stick wavers have to clean them in the first place is because you keep washing your hands after you.....excrete everywhere.

    Gotta admit I LOL’d at this. To be fair, I’ll give you that, considering vampires don’t use the sinks to begin with haha... touché!

    @TX12001 - I’ll give you the broom one also, they *do* tend to go outside, which I like. The teleport ones are identical in time though, vampires raise both arms and vanish, spellcasters a wand. If you do them both together they appear at the exact same time. I just tried it. So that’s equal.

    Either way, they ALL result in the same outcome it is about preference, this spell is no different to the teleporting spell in TS2 (in which we also had meditation teleportation and a ninja you could ask to learn it) and TS2 has the best spells hands down. If they’d have included the time freezing spell this pack would have been golden. I use most of the spells in a sim day, my house is haunted, the morphate spell works wonders. Although, don’t cast delirium on a ghost, they’ll just wander the neighbourhood endlessly lol


    —T
  • TX12001TX12001 Posts: 46 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    Here is the thing, Wizards may have some cool abilities and may beable to exploit the system but they are a Glass Cannon, the fact they suffer from mortal vulnerabilities makes them a lesser lifestate then Vampires.

    They also need to keep consuming a potion over and over again, not a problem if you are playing with them but once you go play with another household then your going to be at risk, I doubt they will autonomously take the Potion of Rejuvenation themselves otherwise your going to end up with the majority of all wizards as old people.
  • AHolyToiletAHolyToilet Posts: 870 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    I prefer Spellcasters, but I think Vampires in this game have superior gameplay.
  • CelSimsCelSims Posts: 2,270 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    TX12001 wrote: »
    > @To7m said:
    > (Quote)
    >
    > After having to walk to the sink though. My magical sim can cast from afar.
    >
    > Honestly, these excuses are weak. Yes we have aspiration points, but you’ll run out eventually if you don’t cheat. You can only earn so many. I can cast scruberoo countless times.... from down the street or I can teleport. And yes vampire have mist form but unless you’re a vampire... that ain’t helping you anytime soon. You’d even have to learn the wellness skill, then meditate, then teleport...
    >
    > Like, yeah, magic is cheating in a way. That’s kinda the point of it. So carry on cleaning your sinks by hand, while we wave our wands from the beach in Sulani 🤷🏼‍♂️
    >
    > Coconut drinks anyone?
    >
    > —T

    You do realize Vampires have superior teleportation right?

    Bat Form > Broom as the Spellcaster tends to go outside first before they get on the room, the Vampire however will become a Bat from anywhere plus the animation is shorter so they get their quicker.

    Mist Form > Teleport as the animation I feel is shorter as well therefor they get their quicker.

    Vampiric Super Speed is also very useful, especially when you want to reorganize things, sometimes it is quicker to run from point A to Point B then use any form of teleportation, also yeah a Vampire will usually almost always beat a Spellcaster in a fight.

    Not to mention that vampires can do all 3 of those while holding a toddler. Casters teleport can't.
  • RememberJoyRememberJoy Posts: 1,138 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    Hermitgirl wrote: »
    I had so much fun laughing today over this thread ... we need a picture version :).

    How about these?
    EBqowM0.png
    Hmmm... Tasty
    se9gTWx.png
    You're not the only one who can freeze people Morgyn!
    nchzelg.png
    Ha! A taste of your own medicine (The other spellcaster got in the way, so I froze her too)
    Uqsrl83.png

  • TX12001TX12001 Posts: 46 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    Why freeze him? just deprive him of his bladder.
  • VamprisVampris Posts: 1,127 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    Wait spellcasters have to clean their own house? Why not get someone do it for you for free
    OEII1001 wrote: »
    It doesn't get dirty in the first place, meatsack. The only reason you stick wavers have to clean them in the first place is because you keep washing your hands after you.....excrete everywhere.
    TX12001 wrote: »
    Why freeze him? just deprive him of his bladder.
    Ha! Both of these comments just reminded me spellcasters have to use the bathroom.
    Like ew, bodily functions were so last century.
    EMrBkJP.png
  • RememberJoyRememberJoy Posts: 1,138 Member
    Vampires Always Vin
    TX12001 wrote: »
    Why freeze him? just deprive him of his bladder.

    She doesn't have that ability and besides I find freezing people more entertaining. >:)
Sign In or Register to comment.
Return to top