It seems like the odds are unpredictable for any one person, when it comes to hiring different services. For some people, it's the maids that are slacking, for others, it's the Butlers. But at least, with the maids and gardeners, it doesn't cost you real money if you're not pleased with their performance, because maids and gardeners come with the base game, which is a free download, so you've got nothing to lose, money-wise. It's a risk going for the Butler, because it's part of a pack that you have to pay real money for (Vintage Glamour Stuff), making it a real bummer if you're not pleased with the Butler. It's anyone's guess if the Butler is worth it or not, because some people have problems with it, others don't.
But I'll say this: Butlers could definitely use fixes! Because, regardless of how good their traits are, or how dependable they are at the start, they will always end up neglecting or failing miserably with at least one responsibility in the end; something that I've never seen maids and gardeners do - whenever I've hired a maid or gardener, they've always done their duties beautifully, without slacking, and do a much better job of it than Butlers; but this is just my personal experience.
It's completely another story with the Butler, though. To start off with, it was near impossible for me just to be able to hire a butler that had good traits; the majority of Butlers I hired had really bad and irresponsible traits: To name a few, the first Butler I tried hiring was a Kleptomanic, the next had an evil trait, and the 3rd was jealous and lazy. It took so long for me to find a Butler with good traits, it took a whole entire Sim night, and into the morning. The one I've hired has fantastic traits (goofball, active, and foodie), and worked beautifully at first, but that was only temporary. Now, he's become totally useless: 1. He just stands there doing nothing the majority of the time. 2. He doesn't look after himself on his own, like eating, sleeping, etc. I always have to give him the command to do it, because, if I don't, he stays up the whole night and into the next day without sleeping, and doesn't eat, even when he's near starving to death, which I find really shocking. Butlers shouldn't rely on being told what to do, concerning their own well-being (like sleeping, eating, etc.), because they're NPC characters. 3. He neglects his duties, or takes way too long to do them. For instance, I got a notification from one of my Sim friends on my phone to hang out at my place, and I said yes. She comes to the door, and I tell the Butler to let her in. He nods, but then just stands there, doing nothing, and which he did for so long, my friend eventually let herself in. Very frustrating and disappointing! >:(
I'm going back to hiring the maid and gardener, Butlers, in my experience, are just not dependable. I got this Vintage Glamour pack, in the hopes that the Butler would help out with the cooking, cleaning, etc., so my Sim could have time to do other things in the day, like exploring and finding collectibles. The most Sims I can handle controlling at a time is 2 - I've recently gotten married in Sims 4, which took a bit of getting used to - because I'd just been playing with my own Sim for a long time, and my husband was no longer an NPC character - but in spite of that, I've settled into it now, because my husband is really good at tending to his own needs on his own, he never has to be told to do them, making him still feel like an NPC character. Most of the times that I do control him is to level up his skills. But hiring this Butler has stressed me out more than I've ever been, the whole time I've been playing Sims 4, because I now have to tend to a another Sim's needs (like eating, sleeping), when, as an NPC character, he should know how to do that himself. And also because he neglects the duties I pay him to do, which is all very time-consuming, and barely gives any room for my Sim to find collectibles anymore :( I can handle telling the Butler to cook a meal for the family, or answer the door for visitors, but I shouldn't be telling him to look after himself. He's an adult, not my my kid, lol... The only good thing I can take away from the Vintage Glamour pack is that the hairdos for girls are absolutely stunning. If you love beautiful hairstyles for girls, then I would recommend the Vintage Glamour Stuff, because there are some really good ones in there!
Hey folks, split this off from it's original thread as as it was pointed out that thread was about The Sims 3 and had been inactive for quite a while. You're welcome to continue discussing this here.
Mine are hard workers but die after 4 days. Gone through 4 f them this way. Always the 4th day they drop dead. 3/4 were not elderly and all were taking care of their needs and had their own bed and even own bathroom kitchen they would use.
Imo no. Honestly, I got VG for the CAS and BB more than the butlers. They're okay, but it's annoying how little we can control them. I really think butlers should be added to the household since they live in the home.
The butler in my legacy family doesn't do much. She spends tons of time reading. I was intrigued because it seemed like the butlers don't age. Thought it was awesome for my legacy family to have the same butler for all that time... And the cleaning help was a plus. (When she cleans.)
So, she's cool to have around. I don't expect much out of her though. She's more like a pet. She seems to have something going with one of the resident ghosts.
I have the same issue where she pretends like she doesn't have needs. She stays awake for super, super long hours.
I used butlers for several of my richer households. It worked quite well, but more for the looks than the works. It's often quicker to just cook your food yourself than to direct the butler doing it. I never used the help with kids and garden etc. but can see that benefiting a family more. And they make the perfect company for elderly widows, of course
But - I no longer use them, because I play rotationally and it turned out the service was charged my non-played households. When I entered the houses all their cash was gone, or their next bills would be around §20.000 because they had to pay the butler service for all days since the last time I played that house. Sigh. All other bills freeze when house is inactive, sop this is obviously a bug. Sad to see it's not been fixed.
If you play just one household, butlers are super cool. If you play rotationally, remember to quit the service every time you leave that lot.
I like the butlers but I hate that they keep switching if you rotate between households. In my Victorian save, several households have butlers but there seems to be a pool they are drawn from and it's pot luck which one you get each time you switch households (and even upon returning from a visit to a different lot!) I imagine it works much better if you are only using one butler per save.
I have a butler in my active household, and imo they're only worth it if you micro manage them. If you leave them to their own devices, they don't seem to be very useful. When a child starts to fuss, I often need to hit Butler > attend minor if I want him to stop cleaning and go take care of the children. I need to tell him to sleep during a lull in activity and essentially micro manage him like I would a sim. If I do all of those things, he is actually really useful, but as I said earlier, if I leave him to his own devices, he wears himself out right away and is essentially useless.
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But I'll say this: Butlers could definitely use fixes! Because, regardless of how good their traits are, or how dependable they are at the start, they will always end up neglecting or failing miserably with at least one responsibility in the end; something that I've never seen maids and gardeners do - whenever I've hired a maid or gardener, they've always done their duties beautifully, without slacking, and do a much better job of it than Butlers; but this is just my personal experience.
It's completely another story with the Butler, though. To start off with, it was near impossible for me just to be able to hire a butler that had good traits; the majority of Butlers I hired had really bad and irresponsible traits: To name a few, the first Butler I tried hiring was a Kleptomanic, the next had an evil trait, and the 3rd was jealous and lazy. It took so long for me to find a Butler with good traits, it took a whole entire Sim night, and into the morning. The one I've hired has fantastic traits (goofball, active, and foodie), and worked beautifully at first, but that was only temporary. Now, he's become totally useless:
1. He just stands there doing nothing the majority of the time.
2. He doesn't look after himself on his own, like eating, sleeping, etc. I always have to give him the command to do it, because, if I don't, he stays up the whole night and into the next day without sleeping, and doesn't eat, even when he's near starving to death, which I find really shocking. Butlers shouldn't rely on being told what to do, concerning their own well-being (like sleeping, eating, etc.), because they're NPC characters.
3. He neglects his duties, or takes way too long to do them. For instance, I got a notification from one of my Sim friends on my phone to hang out at my place, and I said yes. She comes to the door, and I tell the Butler to let her in. He nods, but then just stands there, doing nothing, and which he did for so long, my friend eventually let herself in. Very frustrating and disappointing! >:(
I'm going back to hiring the maid and gardener, Butlers, in my experience, are just not dependable. I got this Vintage Glamour pack, in the hopes that the Butler would help out with the cooking, cleaning, etc., so my Sim could have time to do other things in the day, like exploring and finding collectibles. The most Sims I can handle controlling at a time is 2 - I've recently gotten married in Sims 4, which took a bit of getting used to - because I'd just been playing with my own Sim for a long time, and my husband was no longer an NPC character - but in spite of that, I've settled into it now, because my husband is really good at tending to his own needs on his own, he never has to be told to do them, making him still feel like an NPC character. Most of the times that I do control him is to level up his skills. But hiring this Butler has stressed me out more than I've ever been, the whole time I've been playing Sims 4, because I now have to tend to a another Sim's needs (like eating, sleeping), when, as an NPC character, he should know how to do that himself. And also because he neglects the duties I pay him to do, which is all very time-consuming, and barely gives any room for my Sim to find collectibles anymore :( I can handle telling the Butler to cook a meal for the family, or answer the door for visitors, but I shouldn't be telling him to look after himself. He's an adult, not my my kid, lol...
The only good thing I can take away from the Vintage Glamour pack is that the hairdos for girls are absolutely stunning. If you love beautiful hairstyles for girls, then I would recommend the Vintage Glamour Stuff, because there are some really good ones in there!
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/categories/ts4-stuff-packs
http://store.thesims3.com/myWishlist.html?persona=lisasc360
My stories on this site:
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/991317/my-sims-stories/p1?new=1
So, she's cool to have around. I don't expect much out of her though. She's more like a pet. She seems to have something going with one of the resident ghosts.
I have the same issue where she pretends like she doesn't have needs. She stays awake for super, super long hours.
Maice Sims
How do you give them traits?
But - I no longer use them, because I play rotationally and it turned out the service was charged my non-played households. When I entered the houses all their cash was gone, or their next bills would be around §20.000 because they had to pay the butler service for all days since the last time I played that house. Sigh. All other bills freeze when house is inactive, sop this is obviously a bug. Sad to see it's not been fixed.
If you play just one household, butlers are super cool. If you play rotationally, remember to quit the service every time you leave that lot.
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear
Time enjoyed is never time wasted