Yes and no. I don't think the kits team is the same team that works on Gamepacks and Expansions.
But I voted yes because the kits are clearly a convenient way to fill in the "hole" of the entire period they are in absolute silence. It's an easy way to keep sales going and the community going by playing with "New" stuff.
This obviously also generates content for EA Game Changers.
I would have no problem with that. I'm not a consumer of the kits, so it doesn't affect me. But it's disappointing the way they sell this game that clearly needs repairs and improvements.
My concern is not the bugs, because eventually they end up fixing. My concern is knowing that I spent a lot of money on a game that is aging so fast. (And it definitely doesn't fit the 2022 gaming standards anymore). It's a shame they're wasting precious time from a game's lifespan, producing piles of packs that don't add anything to the gameplay. We urgently need improvements to the AI and the base game.
Wish list:
- Cars, motorcycles, bycicles. (Detailed animations)
- Wild Animals (Interactive)
- Thief and Celebrity (Better and more active!)
- Bands
- Farming or Medieval EP
- Cyberpunk or Asian GP
- Beach.
Regarding Expansions since the Roadmap is only for May and June we may not see the Next EP till August since they would have to announce the Expansion in July when the next roadmap drops. Iron Seagull mentioned this possibility on his recent video.
Yes and no. I don't think the kits team is the same team that works on Gamepacks and Expansions.
But I voted yes because the kits are clearly a convenient way to fill in the "hole" of the entire period they are in absolute silence. It's an easy way to keep sales going and the community going by playing with "New" stuff.
This obviously also generates content for EA Game Changers.
I would have no problem with that. I'm not a consumer of the kits, so it doesn't affect me. But it's disappointing the way they sell this game that clearly needs repairs and improvements.
My concern is not the bugs, because eventually they end up fixing. My concern is knowing that I spent a lot of money on a game that is aging so fast. (And it definitely doesn't fit the 2022 gaming standards anymore). It's a shame they're wasting precious time from a game's lifespan, producing piles of packs that don't add anything to the gameplay. We urgently need improvements to the AI and the base game.
Looking at the credits, as far as I can tell, there are a lot of names that show up there in both credits for kits and packs, it seems to be for a lot of leadership roles (probably because they can't move them around as easily) or for roles where they probably don't have a lot of people, technical art director, engineers and server engineering teams are often the same for kits and packs.
I think it depends how one defines same team, same people in all areas? no, same people in some areas? yes. There are people that work on both kits and packs.
How much that affects the release of other DLC, that's difficult to know, because they are in the credits doesn't mean that they are spending a lot of time on it... but it is work hours that they would probably spend working on something else if kits were not a thing...
I wish at the very least they'd make an announcement about the future of Stuff Packs. I'll be upset if they have stopped, but at least it would end the constant speculation.
The last Stuff Pack was January 2021.
Kits were introduced in March 2021.
The last Expansion Pack was July 2021.
How many kits have we had since then?
I'm not against them as extra content, sure I think they're overpriced, but if we were still getting the other packs on a regular basis I wouldn't take such an issue with them.
Yes and no. I don't think the kits team is the same team that works on Gamepacks and Expansions.
But I voted yes because the kits are clearly a convenient way to fill in the "hole" of the entire period they are in absolute silence. It's an easy way to keep sales going and the community going by playing with "New" stuff.
This obviously also generates content for EA Game Changers.
I would have no problem with that. I'm not a consumer of the kits, so it doesn't affect me. But it's disappointing the way they sell this game that clearly needs repairs and improvements.
My concern is not the bugs, because eventually they end up fixing. My concern is knowing that I spent a lot of money on a game that is aging so fast. (And it definitely doesn't fit the 2022 gaming standards anymore). It's a shame they're wasting precious time from a game's lifespan, producing piles of packs that don't add anything to the gameplay. We urgently need improvements to the AI and the base game.
Looking at the credits, as far as I can tell, there are a lot of names that show up there in both credits for kits and packs, it seems to be for a lot of leadership roles (probably because they can't move them around as easily) or for roles where they probably don't have a lot of people, technical art director, engineers and server engineering teams are often the same for kits and packs.
I think it depends how one defines same team, same people in all areas? no, same people in some areas? yes. There are people that work on both kits and packs.
How much that affects the release of other DLC, that's difficult to know, because they are in the credits doesn't mean that they are spending a lot of time on it... but it is work hours that they would probably spend working on something else if kits were not a thing...
Yes, I must have expressed my thought wrong. I don't really think the entire team working on Gamepacks is working on kits right now. That's what I meant. The gamepack team could have been working all this time on the newly announced pack, and kits are a quick and easy way to sell stuff to the community. But even if my guess is correct, I think this is a waste.
If they want us to keep playing, then give us the things we've been asking for years! Why do we still not have spiral stairs? It wouldn't surprise me that they added this in a kit, just to push us a package we clearly don't need.
Post edited by Tahabata on
Wish list:
- Cars, motorcycles, bycicles. (Detailed animations)
- Wild Animals (Interactive)
- Thief and Celebrity (Better and more active!)
- Bands
- Farming or Medieval EP
- Cyberpunk or Asian GP
- Beach.
I think it's difficult to tell, what if kits didn't exist and we still got the same amount of traditional packs as we've gotten? Then we'd have even less content than we do now (which I would argue might be the preferable alternative in my opinion).
I chose Yes because we have not had a Stuff Pack in nearly a year and a half. I understand the pandemic had something to do with the way they release content but they could at least tell us if we are no longer getting Stuff Packs. We have only had Game Packs and Kits since the last time a Stuff Pack was released. I loved Stuff Packs because we got more than Kits. I only bought the CAS Kits because the others didn't interest me at first.
I mean, regardless of which teams are working on kits (or even if they're being outsourced), resources are going to them that could've been diverted to other teams (which IMO they sorely need). We haven't seen a SP since Paranormal and there's been no communication on what the next one might be and when to expect it. The last game pack was an unplayable mess and was still a very empty GP even if it DID work. Based on the releases up until this point we should be expecting another EP soon and there's been no news of that either.
I think regardless of what you think, that the biggest problem is that (like always) the sims team is unresponsive and non-communicative. The tweet in question only says "kits don't impact anything else," which is like... could you please elaborate? Because like I said, resources are still going to kits. Are those new resources or are they being diverted from other teams? Are we seeing less releases because the team is shifting towards TS5? How many more non-kit packs can we expect this year? How many more kits are you going to be making? What happened to all those pack refreshes we were supposed to be getting? Pre-mades update when? If they're moving towards TS5 then how many years do we have left and will they just be pumping out kits the whole time? Will we being doing any more community voted stuff packs? Are we even still getting any more stuff packs or are those gone now? Will we ever see another game focused kit pack or was BTD the only one (which if I'm not mistaken is Also still broken)?
I just wish they would be open with us about this stuff, because then the community wouldn't be left in the dark with nothing but our questions that only continue to fester and make us frustrated. The team used to be so open in past gens about what packs to expect next, and now it feels like they just spring one on us a month in advance then retreat to the darkness again, letting us run wild with our imaginations. I'd be more frustrated if I wasn't so tired of it.
They might be taking stuff out that would have previously been in Stuff Packs, but given the limited content in Kits I can't imagine they're taking major resources from GPs or EPs. And if the kind of gameplay featured in Kits is really the best that those packs would otherwise offer, it's pretty clear that the game is at the end of its lifecycle.
Yes, technically I would say they do. It's nonsensical to say they don't. Think about budgets. If they have all that extra money laying around to produce kits, then that money, time, and employees could have been spent on packs. It's clear enough to me.
If EA said here, here's a different budget for kits...then wouldn't anyone say wait, why can't we have that extra money for packs? It's all in the same wash.
Here's another thought, kits would affect releases because they wouldn't be able to release a kit, a stuff pack and either a GP or an EP at the same time stepping on the toes of one or the other..so yes, kits would affect releases and budgets.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
Yes, technically I would say they do. It's nonsensical to say they don't. Think about budgets. If they have all that extra money laying around to produce kits, then that money, time, and employees could have been spent on packs. It's clear enough to me.
If EA said here, here's a different budget for kits...then wouldn't anyone say wait, why can't we have that extra money for packs? It's all in the same wash.
Here's another thought, kits would affect releases because they wouldn't be able to release a kit, a stuff pack and either a GP or an EP at the same time stepping on the toes of one or the other..so yes, kits would affect releases and budgets.
That’s a viewpoint I hadn’t considered. 🤔
I thought as they made space for a fourth dlc pathway, the route would be planned accordingly. So each dlc has its own team and launch cycle. I thought kits would be launched in-between other packs so there’s more available content.
This year we’ve had two kits and a game pack twice.
So maybe the budgets have been adjusted to what they can pump out quicker? 🤔🤷🏼♂️.
No, I think base game updates and possibly pack refreshes are affecting the release of other DLC and kits. If they are working on more larger packs, there would be fewer base game updates and kits, but they are working on base game updates now such as the pronoun update plus other stuff so there are fewer larger packs and more kits.
It’s like in the beginning when they were working on toddlers. There were more SPs then because more programmers were busy working on toddlers so other employees worked on SPs that don’t need as many programmers. I think the addition of toddlers is probably why the first EP, GP and SP are lacking too.
No additional budget required. Employees not working on base game updates are probably assigned to work on kits instead of being laid off or being paid to do nothing.
I think Kits are a way to still give us something without completely frying the game.
You gotta remember...
Sims 4 aka Project Olympus was originally designed to be an MMO. That's why it was missing so much at release in 2014. The engine's not designed to handle that, which probably explains lack of gameplay & extensive bug list.
Budget is allocated staff and the time that they are working on it, Maxis allocates resources depending on what they decide to make. If you go to the credits and look at the credits for kits and for packs then you will notice the same names here and there.
Kits are not a separate thing, they are made by Maxis and released in a decided release schedule. The people and the time that they allocated to them would have gone to something else, like other dlc like packs.
They change their schedule, depending on what they want to make, if kits had not been a thing, they would have changed their schedule and assigned people differently.
This question is similar to : "Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?"
Do they stop doing SP because of Kits or do they make Kits because they stopped doing SP ?
At this point it's impossible to answer this question.
A lot of changes probably happened into the studio these 18 last months.
But Maxis still released 3 major packs (EP/GP) for each fiscal year.
Of course 2 Stuff Packs ($20 for about 120 items with gameplay) have been replaced by 11 Kits ($55 for less than 275 items).
We get more CAS/BB content almost monthly but no gameplay. It's also less new issues to fix.
Once they started introducing kits, we stopped getting stuff packs. I noticed EPs are further and further apart now at just one a year. We also seem to get piecemeal packs like a lot of CAS/build buy that could be fleshed to actual GP or EPs. I know the Sims 4 is towards the end of it's life.
This question is similar to : "Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?"
Do they stop doing SP because of Kits or do they make Kits because they stopped doing SP ?
At this point it's impossible to answer this question.
A lot of changes probably happened into the studio these 18 last months.
But Maxis still released 3 major packs (EP/GP) for each fiscal year.
Of course 2 Stuff Packs ($20 for about 120 items with gameplay) have been replaced by 11 Kits ($55 for less than 275 items).
We get more CAS/BB content almost monthly but no gameplay. It's also less new issues to fix.
Is the glass half empty or half full?
It's a matter of point of view.
You’re right it is like the chicken and egg debate.
They got Paranormal Stuff pack just right. It’s a pity they stopped.
Your theory does raise another question for me. 🙋♂️
If they didn’t go down the route of kits where would these extra bits have gone?
Would Cottage Living have gotten two kitchen sets?
Snowy Escape more CAS?
Would we have gotten a bigger Industrial Loft pack with more windows, wallpapers and flooring choices?
🤔🤷🏼♂️
If they didn’t go down the route of kits where would these extra bits have gone?
The answer is very simple, they wouldn't exist.
(No collaboration with Shruti Sitara Singh, Jazzy Cho, Stefan Cooke, Pabllo Vittar and Paola Locatelli)
Comments
But I voted yes because the kits are clearly a convenient way to fill in the "hole" of the entire period they are in absolute silence. It's an easy way to keep sales going and the community going by playing with "New" stuff.
This obviously also generates content for EA Game Changers.
I would have no problem with that. I'm not a consumer of the kits, so it doesn't affect me. But it's disappointing the way they sell this game that clearly needs repairs and improvements.
My concern is not the bugs, because eventually they end up fixing. My concern is knowing that I spent a lot of money on a game that is aging so fast. (And it definitely doesn't fit the 2022 gaming standards anymore). It's a shame they're wasting precious time from a game's lifespan, producing piles of packs that don't add anything to the gameplay. We urgently need improvements to the AI and the base game.
- Cars, motorcycles, bycicles. (Detailed animations)
- Wild Animals (Interactive)
- Thief and Celebrity (Better and more active!)
- Bands
- Farming or Medieval EP
- Cyberpunk or Asian GP
- Beach.
Personality,depth,humor,consequences,lore,customization.
Looking at the credits, as far as I can tell, there are a lot of names that show up there in both credits for kits and packs, it seems to be for a lot of leadership roles (probably because they can't move them around as easily) or for roles where they probably don't have a lot of people, technical art director, engineers and server engineering teams are often the same for kits and packs.
I think it depends how one defines same team, same people in all areas? no, same people in some areas? yes. There are people that work on both kits and packs.
How much that affects the release of other DLC, that's difficult to know, because they are in the credits doesn't mean that they are spending a lot of time on it... but it is work hours that they would probably spend working on something else if kits were not a thing...
The last Stuff Pack was January 2021.
Kits were introduced in March 2021.
The last Expansion Pack was July 2021.
How many kits have we had since then?
I'm not against them as extra content, sure I think they're overpriced, but if we were still getting the other packs on a regular basis I wouldn't take such an issue with them.
1 EP, 3 GP, and 13 kits.
Yes, I must have expressed my thought wrong. I don't really think the entire team working on Gamepacks is working on kits right now. That's what I meant. The gamepack team could have been working all this time on the newly announced pack, and kits are a quick and easy way to sell stuff to the community. But even if my guess is correct, I think this is a waste.
If they want us to keep playing, then give us the things we've been asking for years! Why do we still not have spiral stairs? It wouldn't surprise me that they added this in a kit, just to push us a package we clearly don't need.
- Cars, motorcycles, bycicles. (Detailed animations)
- Wild Animals (Interactive)
- Thief and Celebrity (Better and more active!)
- Bands
- Farming or Medieval EP
- Cyberpunk or Asian GP
- Beach.
I think regardless of what you think, that the biggest problem is that (like always) the sims team is unresponsive and non-communicative. The tweet in question only says "kits don't impact anything else," which is like... could you please elaborate? Because like I said, resources are still going to kits. Are those new resources or are they being diverted from other teams? Are we seeing less releases because the team is shifting towards TS5? How many more non-kit packs can we expect this year? How many more kits are you going to be making? What happened to all those pack refreshes we were supposed to be getting? Pre-mades update when? If they're moving towards TS5 then how many years do we have left and will they just be pumping out kits the whole time? Will we being doing any more community voted stuff packs? Are we even still getting any more stuff packs or are those gone now? Will we ever see another game focused kit pack or was BTD the only one (which if I'm not mistaken is Also still broken)?
I just wish they would be open with us about this stuff, because then the community wouldn't be left in the dark with nothing but our questions that only continue to fester and make us frustrated. The team used to be so open in past gens about what packs to expect next, and now it feels like they just spring one on us a month in advance then retreat to the darkness again, letting us run wild with our imaginations. I'd be more frustrated if I wasn't so tired of it.
If EA said here, here's a different budget for kits...then wouldn't anyone say wait, why can't we have that extra money for packs? It's all in the same wash.
Here's another thought, kits would affect releases because they wouldn't be able to release a kit, a stuff pack and either a GP or an EP at the same time stepping on the toes of one or the other..so yes, kits would affect releases and budgets.
That’s a viewpoint I hadn’t considered. 🤔
I thought as they made space for a fourth dlc pathway, the route would be planned accordingly. So each dlc has its own team and launch cycle. I thought kits would be launched in-between other packs so there’s more available content.
This year we’ve had two kits and a game pack twice.
So maybe the budgets have been adjusted to what they can pump out quicker? 🤔🤷🏼♂️.
It’s like in the beginning when they were working on toddlers. There were more SPs then because more programmers were busy working on toddlers so other employees worked on SPs that don’t need as many programmers. I think the addition of toddlers is probably why the first EP, GP and SP are lacking too.
No additional budget required. Employees not working on base game updates are probably assigned to work on kits instead of being laid off or being paid to do nothing.
You gotta remember...
Sims 4 aka Project Olympus was originally designed to be an MMO. That's why it was missing so much at release in 2014. The engine's not designed to handle that, which probably explains lack of gameplay & extensive bug list.
Kits are not a separate thing, they are made by Maxis and released in a decided release schedule. The people and the time that they allocated to them would have gone to something else, like other dlc like packs.
They change their schedule, depending on what they want to make, if kits had not been a thing, they would have changed their schedule and assigned people differently.
Do they stop doing SP because of Kits or do they make Kits because they stopped doing SP ?
At this point it's impossible to answer this question.
A lot of changes probably happened into the studio these 18 last months.
But Maxis still released 3 major packs (EP/GP) for each fiscal year.
Of course 2 Stuff Packs ($20 for about 120 items with gameplay) have been replaced by 11 Kits ($55 for less than 275 items).
We get more CAS/BB content almost monthly but no gameplay. It's also less new issues to fix.
Is the glass half empty or half full?
It's a matter of point of view.
The Sims 4 Ideas Corner
- 👕 [CAS] Male content | 💰 §1 Million Lifestyle | ♂️ Man lifestyle for The Sims | ♻️ Content from The Sims
- 🔨 [Build/Buy Mode] Ideas | 📱 Ideas from The Sims FreePlay | ✈️ Vacation : Gameplay update | 🥦 New meals
The Sims 4 General DiscussionYou’re right it is like the chicken and egg debate.
They got Paranormal Stuff pack just right. It’s a pity they stopped.
Your theory does raise another question for me. 🙋♂️
If they didn’t go down the route of kits where would these extra bits have gone?
Would Cottage Living have gotten two kitchen sets?
Snowy Escape more CAS?
Would we have gotten a bigger Industrial Loft pack with more windows, wallpapers and flooring choices?
🤔🤷🏼♂️
The answer is very simple, they wouldn't exist.
(No collaboration with Shruti Sitara Singh, Jazzy Cho, Stefan Cooke, Pabllo Vittar and Paola Locatelli)
The Sims 4 Ideas Corner
- 👕 [CAS] Male content | 💰 §1 Million Lifestyle | ♂️ Man lifestyle for The Sims | ♻️ Content from The Sims
- 🔨 [Build/Buy Mode] Ideas | 📱 Ideas from The Sims FreePlay | ✈️ Vacation : Gameplay update | 🥦 New meals
The Sims 4 General Discussion