Shorter. I’d like to be surprised or I hate waiting
Shorter! I've said this before but I want Sims 4 EPs to drop like Beyonce albums. Out of nowhere with no prelude. If I found out that Sims 4 Supernatural was being released two months before it, the agony of waiting would be so much worse than finding out it's being released in like a week.
Longer. I prefer knowing packs as early as possible
Longer if we know details about the pack, shorter if all they dont give any info. I am not a dog, i do not appreciate being teased. Just tell us what youre working on early so we can plan and maybe the sims team can impliment changes or improvements based on the initial response. If they did that for my first pet maybe they wouldnt have gotten such backlash. I feel like the shorter wait time is because they don't want us to notice that things are rushed and complain before it's released.
I can't really decide, because both have their upsides and downsides. Longer is good because we get to know about the pack earlier, but on the downside we have to wait a long time for the pack to be released. Shorter is also good because we don't have to wait a lot for the pack to be released, but before the announcement we usually have a long news drought. I think I still prefer longer cycles, though.
Shorter. I’d like to be surprised or I hate waiting
I have to go with shorter now because while I did like the longer announcements, because it was easier to plan, the wait was.. awful, it'd get really hard to play my game. So, I like the shorter one because it still gives me a chance to plan some of my saves, and not have to wait for such a long time to the point where it becomes difficult to start up my game.
Shorter. I’d like to be surprised or I hate waiting
I prefer shorter announcements to release for sure. I feel like anything longer than a month just makes me get so antsy waiting. Sure, I'd be excited, I just dont want to be patient.
Longer. I prefer knowing packs as early as possible
Longer, because I like to have a save prepped for whatever new thing is coming, as I like to start a new save for EPs (and often GPs). It doesn't have to be six months or anything that long, but nothing nothing nothing for weeks or months before SUDDENLY, NEW PACK really doesn't work for me. It makes me feel stressed, actually, because I suddenly have what feels like a deadline dropped in my lap. And I don't even get to like ... anticipate what's coming, it's just suddenly there and actually makes me less excited.
Basically, I hate being in the dark for long, long stretches of time, then ambushed by a major pack.
Longer. I prefer knowing packs as early as possible
I don't know how you shorter people do it. I am like starving for some news now....LOL If we have to wait for EA play in June to find out anything, I might go a little bananas.
I like reading about all of the speculations before the content is released. The rampant imagination is really entertaining and should be more observed by the developers because it's usually better.
This...., I enjoy the speculation about the pack to come....
Longer. I prefer knowing packs as early as possible
I'm really surprised to see the number of people in the speculation forum that want to speculate over nothing. Half the fun is imagining what's in a pack or even better getting heard and seeing improvements to that pack like Get Together.
Sims 4 went from "You Rule" to "One of the stories we want you to tell"
And then, 100% of the disappointment is finding out that the finished pack doesn't include any of the great stuff and features fans came up with while speculating. I chose "Short" mostly for that reason. Maybe I would have chosen differently if TS4 hadn't disappointed me so often (looking at you, Cats & Dogs).
The other reason is that once I know there's something on the horizon that I'm really, really looking forward to, the anticipation can make it impossible for me to play the game as it is because I'm constantly coming up with things I'm going to do once I have the new pack, but can't do yet.
Shorter. I’d like to be surprised or I hate waiting
Who wouldn't say shorter. LOL. But seriously I have been buying game for a long, long time and usually publishers drop their game according to a schedule of some sort. But personally I am just glad that most eps now a days do come out far more frequently than many games used to. We used to wait for years, not just mere months - and weeks were unheard of.
Telling devs you want a shorter wait though just keeps us from knowing anything until last minute I think. That'd be a long wait if they wait even longer to tell us anything. The fact is the publishers schedule is not likely to change - we'll just be in the dark longer.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Shorter. I’d like to be surprised or I hate waiting
I've got plenty to do at the moment but do like being surprised by Patches with extra content or objects that I don't have to pay for.
I get a bit stressed when Expansion packs come out anyway as I feel that I've got to start all over again re-furnishing my houses so I'm willing to wait for those. Prior information of a lot of new building stuff would get me excited though.
Longer. I prefer knowing packs as early as possible
While short release is entertaining and I think an awesome idea for GPs and SPs (although I feel Strangerville could have used another week), I think it would be wise to announce EPs further in advance.
Why?
I think they should take the feedback in speculation to "flesh out" the pack, such as a last minute sync to go well with another EP/GP/SP, add last minute objects and swatches, rabbit hole careers, etc. Little things simmers hope that is in the pack.
Also, it takes a while for me to make an excuse for my sims to use some of the EPs, like Get Famous for example. My kid sims need to grow up a bit first and I can prep my story in the meantime. I'm finally fitting Get Famous gameplay naturally in my story (I know, I play slow lol).
Shorter. I’d like to be surprised or I hate waiting
I love getting the news and only having to wait until either next month or at least by the end of the month when before you had to wait a whole year and it sucked.
I would just like certain types of content to be confirmed, so that people can be happy knowing it's going to come at some point. Which I know will never happen because of how the privacy works, but that's my feeling as far as long-term goes.
Apart from that, I don't particularly enjoy hearing about content and then waiting for it to come. I've never been the type to pre-order or get hyped (I think I've pre-ordered something for a game once in all the years I've played video games and I regretted it shortly after). For me it's best when it just shows up and then if there's a price tag on it, I can look at reviews and info and decide if I'm interested in it. I don't think I feel this way about every type of product though. I think a lot of it has to do with how often hype trains end in disappointment with video games. And I think it's only gotten worse over the years with all of the speculation culture and endless imagining of what could be. (Not that I have anything inherently against this practice or the people who do it - I just think it's part of the overall picture of hype trains tending to end in disappointment. The most important factor, in my assessment atm, is just studios not delivering something that is as high quality as their marketing... marketing has gotten more and more robust, while numerous studios increasingly struggle with a variety of issues in putting out high quality content on a regular basis, in part I think just because they always have and the models used in the past for making games were not meant to uphold a 'live service' mode of content delivery. The closest to it is online games and there are plenty that have struggled with the buildup of bugs over time and the difficulties of keeping people interested). The sims studio in particular seems to do pretty well at putting out high quality content and I would hope it does since it was doing the "continued DLC for years" thing before a lot of studios were, but it does noticeably struggle with its content being compared to past iterations of the series, as well as the strain of the base game technology they're working off of with all of its flaws and the increasing discontent in video game communities with monetization models that require you to pay on a regular basis, rather than getting a game in its entirety in one go.
I guess this is a lot of words to say that shorter announce to release cycles are probably for the best right now, at least for a game like this, in terms of managing expectations. The downside of course is the silence in-between and, as I understand it, a significant portion of this community is not accustomed to sitting around and waiting with no knowledge of what's coming down the pipeline. Some people just drop off if there's no news for a while, which I'm sure isn't ideal for Maxis.
If the laws were not as they are, I'd probably say the best would be to give as much detail as possible and use that relationship to temper expectations, to buffer against issues like things changing a lot in development. But unfortunately, that's not the world we live in right now.
Then again, I'm no marketing expert. Just someone with some time on his hands, musing about how it all works.
Longer. I prefer knowing packs as early as possible
I like to know pretty far in advance. Waiting for a pack gives me time to get excited, and the waiting feels less agonizing than the long dry periods. I feel more at ease knowing a pack is confirmed and I wish they'd tell us those things earlier.
Comments
Basically, I hate being in the dark for long, long stretches of time, then ambushed by a major pack.
This...., I enjoy the speculation about the pack to come....
And then, 100% of the disappointment is finding out that the finished pack doesn't include any of the great stuff and features fans came up with while speculating. I chose "Short" mostly for that reason. Maybe I would have chosen differently if TS4 hadn't disappointed me so often (looking at you, Cats & Dogs).
The other reason is that once I know there's something on the horizon that I'm really, really looking forward to, the anticipation can make it impossible for me to play the game as it is because I'm constantly coming up with things I'm going to do once I have the new pack, but can't do yet.
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
Telling devs you want a shorter wait though just keeps us from knowing anything until last minute I think. That'd be a long wait if they wait even longer to tell us anything. The fact is the publishers schedule is not likely to change - we'll just be in the dark longer.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
I get a bit stressed when Expansion packs come out anyway as I feel that I've got to start all over again re-furnishing my houses so I'm willing to wait for those. Prior information of a lot of new building stuff would get me excited though.
Why?
I think they should take the feedback in speculation to "flesh out" the pack, such as a last minute sync to go well with another EP/GP/SP, add last minute objects and swatches, rabbit hole careers, etc. Little things simmers hope that is in the pack.
Also, it takes a while for me to make an excuse for my sims to use some of the EPs, like Get Famous for example. My kid sims need to grow up a bit first and I can prep my story in the meantime. I'm finally fitting Get Famous gameplay naturally in my story (I know, I play slow lol).
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Apart from that, I don't particularly enjoy hearing about content and then waiting for it to come. I've never been the type to pre-order or get hyped (I think I've pre-ordered something for a game once in all the years I've played video games and I regretted it shortly after). For me it's best when it just shows up and then if there's a price tag on it, I can look at reviews and info and decide if I'm interested in it. I don't think I feel this way about every type of product though. I think a lot of it has to do with how often hype trains end in disappointment with video games. And I think it's only gotten worse over the years with all of the speculation culture and endless imagining of what could be. (Not that I have anything inherently against this practice or the people who do it - I just think it's part of the overall picture of hype trains tending to end in disappointment. The most important factor, in my assessment atm, is just studios not delivering something that is as high quality as their marketing... marketing has gotten more and more robust, while numerous studios increasingly struggle with a variety of issues in putting out high quality content on a regular basis, in part I think just because they always have and the models used in the past for making games were not meant to uphold a 'live service' mode of content delivery. The closest to it is online games and there are plenty that have struggled with the buildup of bugs over time and the difficulties of keeping people interested). The sims studio in particular seems to do pretty well at putting out high quality content and I would hope it does since it was doing the "continued DLC for years" thing before a lot of studios were, but it does noticeably struggle with its content being compared to past iterations of the series, as well as the strain of the base game technology they're working off of with all of its flaws and the increasing discontent in video game communities with monetization models that require you to pay on a regular basis, rather than getting a game in its entirety in one go.
I guess this is a lot of words to say that shorter announce to release cycles are probably for the best right now, at least for a game like this, in terms of managing expectations. The downside of course is the silence in-between and, as I understand it, a significant portion of this community is not accustomed to sitting around and waiting with no knowledge of what's coming down the pipeline. Some people just drop off if there's no news for a while, which I'm sure isn't ideal for Maxis.
If the laws were not as they are, I'd probably say the best would be to give as much detail as possible and use that relationship to temper expectations, to buffer against issues like things changing a lot in development. But unfortunately, that's not the world we live in right now.
Then again, I'm no marketing expert. Just someone with some time on his hands, musing about how it all works.