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My thoughts on Eco Living...

Now that I have played it for a while I have a few thoughts:

1) Way to many Bugs
2) The way the Eco Footprint works or doesn’t work I should say. I wish you could just click on the map and select what neighborhoods you want to be green or industrial and if your active Sims live in one of those areas they have to make their footprint green or industrial or suffer neighbor shunning and taxes. Also you can live in a neutral environment and rally Your neighbors to make it a green or industrial footprint.
3) The Freegan trait: My husband’s cousin an roommates are freegans and they have jobs in the environment field and other mainstream jobs, they “prefer” to not buy things if they can and if they do it’s used items. They also don’t hate making money but prefer to save part of their income for Emergencies and donate the rest to charities.
4) Fireplaces, fire pits and BBQs give industrial footprints now even though they have been a main staple for many sims homes.
5) Houses tend look more like cookie cutter houses because of the few wallpapers and floors that give you a green footprint.
6) I love the CAS and Build/Buy items.
7) N.A.P.s are way too weird and pointless.
8) Community Centers are a good idea but would like more variations on the types of activities you can do. Like a cooking center or a science center.
9) I don’t regret buying it but wish it was better planned out.

What are your thoughts?

Comments

  • LaBlue0314LaBlue0314 Posts: 17,436 Member
    In my honest opinion, the ECO pack needs a serious overhaul. It does have good possibilities, but this is the first pack that I have had to actually turn off the features to just so I can keep playing my game. When it comes to the NAPs, don't even get me started.
  • asimbsimasimbsim Posts: 476 Member
    edited June 2020
    I've honestly just realised that the pack is fine - if you turn off all the NAPs and ignore the Eco aspect of it... so basically, I love the CAS and Build items, and I enjoy the new hobbies, but that's it for me.

    The NAPs are so invasive to gameplay that I had to turn them off, although I'm now left with a sim who can't do a single action without cancelling it to stretch, for literally the rest of his sim life (even tho it's repealed and turned off!).
    The Eco footprint thing just seems like a non-thing. I haven't actively tried to change the eco footprint yet, but all of my lots have been neutral. My current lot is a massive mansion filled with all the electronics imaginable, and it has a neutral eco footprint and about $600 bills - I was expecting some change :/ And I deleted the bar in the industrial neighbourhood in the new world ready for my next gen sim to move adn live there when they're old enough, which has changed that whole neighbourhood neutral - so I'll never even get to play it industrial unless I replace the bar or actively try to change it back (which wasnt part of my plan, and prevents the whole regenerating a neighbourhood actual gameplay feature :/ )
    Oh, and my sims all have a constant Uncomfortable Moodlet because of the poor decor (apparently there is something wrong with plain white walls), which is sooo annoying -I want my sims to have plain white walls! Fair enough have a decor moodlet for paintings or plants or something, but to do it for the wallpaper and flooring is really annoying!!!

    I think overall it's disappointing. I was really unconvinced when it was first announced. I became a convert after the livestream and learning more about the pack and actually felt quite excited about it, but now I've tried to play it, with the invasion of NAPs and non-existent eco thing, and the introduction of bugs which are driving me crazy, it's just a stuff pack with some great CAS and Build content :|
  • TeeSeaTeeSea Posts: 1,556 Member
    edited June 2020
    I finally turned off Eco footprint because of things like lots going from green to neutral after a few days and no amount of editing or placing green footprint items would change it back to green. It’s like the longer you play the more bugs you get.
    I had NPC voting turned off from Day 1 because I’m a control freak.
    I did find however that you can still get the positive and negative moodlets if the Eco Footprint is off by cheating the footprint you desire. I don’t know why it works but it does. You can do this in any neighborhood you visit as well.
  • CamkatCamkat Posts: 2,329 Member
    I love the pack and it's my favourite one yet, but I agree that there are way too many bugs. It's got great CAS and BB and the game play introduces some neat concepts (eco-footprint & NAPS) but it was poorly executed.

    I've been able to work around most issues, but a pack shouldn't launch like this. I'm sure they will address some of our complaints and fix the bugs in future patches, but... that does little to help our games now. I rarely buy any TS4 DLC at launch, and I don't regret this one, but I can certainly see how some people do. I should be able to use all the selling features at launch, without issues, not turning them all off. :/
    Origin ID: Peapod79
  • TS1299TS1299 Posts: 1,604 Member
    This is one of the Buggiest Release so far. Great List of features, but awful implementation due to bugs. I really think that this was the most affected back due to Corona Virus Pandemic. Probably, they are near completion of the pack development in March, but due to covid 19 they had to readjust their schedules, change how development works, etc, which explain why there are tons of bugs in this one compared to previous expansion release.
  • SharoniaSharonia Posts: 4,853 Member
    edited June 2020
    1, I hate the N.A.P's. We need the ability to remove the ones we find annoying or silly completely from the options.

    2, Eco Appliances N.A.P seems bugged. My sims always fail the inspection even though all their appliances are all upgraded.

    3, I love the idea of improving the eco footprint but currently it seems pointless as it always just drifts back to neutral.

    4, The pack has way to many bugs. My sims will no longer opt to eat left overs. They always choose to cook new food or eat quick meals.

    Those are my main gripes with the pack right now. :/
  • texxx78texxx78 Posts: 5,657 Member
    edited June 2020
    Naps are so intrusive that even after death my sims keep the same crazy behaviour. I have a cemetery at home and my ghosts are also getting the behaviour of naps that are being implemented after they died. So i have a ton of white cakes in my dinner table everyday when my sims wake up :lol:
  • crocobauracrocobaura Posts: 7,342 Member
    telmarina wrote: »
    Naps are so intrusive that even after death my sims keep the same crazy behaviour. I have a cemetery at home and my ghosts are also getting the behaviour of naps that are being implemented after they died. So i have a ton of white cakes in my dinner table everyday when my sims wake up :lol:

    Have a bake sale! :smiley:
  • texxx78texxx78 Posts: 5,657 Member
    edited June 2020
    crocobaura wrote: »
    telmarina wrote: »
    Naps are so intrusive that even after death my sims keep the same crazy behaviour. I have a cemetery at home and my ghosts are also getting the behaviour of naps that are being implemented after they died. So i have a ton of white cakes in my dinner table everyday when my sims wake up :lol:

    Have a bake sale! :smiley:

    Now that's an idea! :lol: and it's still a family business.
  • jimbbqjimbbq Posts: 2,734 Member
    Same here I turned off all major features just to be able to enjoy the pack. Shame .,. Also please fix the bill. All lots have the same 300 bill !
  • CamkatCamkat Posts: 2,329 Member
    jimbbq wrote: »
    Same here I turned off all major features just to be able to enjoy the pack. Shame .,. Also please fix the bill. All lots have the same 300 bill !


    I noticed this too but I wasn't sure if I was seeing it all right or something! I thought different sized lots would have different costs. What's the point of having the tiniest of lots then if not to save money?
    Origin ID: Peapod79
  • XMachiaXXMachiaX Posts: 122 Member
    I honestly don't have that many problems with the new pack.
    I think it's a shame that the balcony of one apartment cannot be used.
    Another, much bigger problem that gets on my nerves, is that some plants won't grow properly. Some simply remain as earth and others change back after harvesting.
    Something else ... It's incredibly annoying to turn San Myshuno green. Did anyone do it at all? Is that even possible?
  • alan650111alan650111 Posts: 3,295 Member
    They definitely need to fix the 300 dollar lot tax problem!!
  • texxx78texxx78 Posts: 5,657 Member
    I had a sim living in a small container in Evergreen Harbour paying 300 base and around 350 total.
    Then i had a sim living in the big mansion in Windenburg's island paying 300 base and around 500 total.
    Completelly opposite experiences and such a small difference on their bills...
  • wylmite1986wylmite1986 Posts: 1,771 Member
    The only thing that really bugs me is that it works when you aren't playing in the town for Eco Lifestyle. It's a little annoying having my Sim get fined when she's used too much water or something.
    sims_zpswwzalnus.jpg
  • bixtersbixters Posts: 2,299 Member
    Camkat wrote: »
    jimbbq wrote: »
    Same here I turned off all major features just to be able to enjoy the pack. Shame .,. Also please fix the bill. All lots have the same 300 bill !


    I noticed this too but I wasn't sure if I was seeing it all right or something! I thought different sized lots would have different costs. What's the point of having the tiniest of lots then if not to save money?

    Same here! I was playing the Goth household and before the bills were 10,000 simoleons. Now there only 300. Huh?
  • SimsLady2000SimsLady2000 Posts: 1,236 Member
    I had to disable that pack. I LOVED it when it worked right. I love the building stuff and they concept is great. I really enjoyed watching the new world change as the eco footprint got more green. But all the cake-baking, push-ups, brewing, fighting, kissing strangers, having stuff stolen from my created restaurants and other venues that's have had forever and the sims constantly playing withe the clay and future cubes is just too much. Even if I set every neighborhood up without an NAP and turned off the effects in Settings, those problems still occurred. Also, I started getting an error message every time I tried to travel with my playable sims.

    I finally uninstalled my game and origin completely, set up a new administrator account just for the Sims 4 and reinstalled my entire game and Origin into the new account on my PC. I used a string in advanced settings to disable the Eco Lifestyle and when I added my sims back in (one by one) and my houses and stuff (also one by one), I have been able to play daily for over a week without any issues. The only mods I use are the TMEX T.O.O.L and the Amobae Shelf, which I've been using forever. I have tried to reactivate the pack a couple of times to see if the problem is still there and all this crazy behavior begins immediately. I'm so sad. Anyone happen to have a solution for this particular issue?
    The Sims is NOT a game, it's a lifestyle choice.

    My Plumbob is GREEN today :D
  • TeeSeaTeeSea Posts: 1,556 Member
    I had to disable that pack. I LOVED it when it worked right. I love the building stuff and they concept is great. I really enjoyed watching the new world change as the eco footprint got more green. But all the cake-baking, push-ups, brewing, fighting, kissing strangers, having stuff stolen from my created restaurants and other venues that's have had forever and the sims constantly playing withe the clay and future cubes is just too much. Even if I set every neighborhood up without an NAP and turned off the effects in Settings, those problems still occurred. Also, I started getting an error message every time I tried to travel with my playable sims.

    I finally uninstalled my game and origin completely, set up a new administrator account just for the Sims 4 and reinstalled my entire game and Origin into the new account on my PC. I used a string in advanced settings to disable the Eco Lifestyle and when I added my sims back in (one by one) and my houses and stuff (also one by one), I have been able to play daily for over a week without any issues. The only mods I use are the TMEX T.O.O.L and the Amobae Shelf, which I've been using forever. I have tried to reactivate the pack a couple of times to see if the problem is still there and all this crazy behavior begins immediately. I'm so sad. Anyone happen to have a solution for this particular issue?

    Have you tried disabling NPC N.A.P voting and the Eco Footprint?

  • SimmerGeorgeSimmerGeorge Posts: 2,724 Member
    The idea is great but the execution lacks precision and depth especially in the Eco footprint department which is supposed to be the main theme of the pack.
    If the execution was good I would have bought the pack by now.
    Where's my Sims 5 squad at?
  • troshalomtroshalom Posts: 1,095 Member
    TS1299 wrote: »
    This is one of the Buggiest Release so far. Great List of features, but awful implementation due to bugs. I really think that this was the most affected back due to Corona Virus Pandemic. Probably, they are near completion of the pack development in March, but due to covid 19 they had to readjust their schedules, change how development works, etc, which explain why there are tons of bugs in this one compared to previous expansion release.

    @TS1299 I was wondering if the pandemic affected this release, regarding the bugs. Form the perspective of hiring contractors to identify and smash bugs - maybe that wasn't done. Working from home should not have impacted that as that is a non issue, but getting hardware to contractors and getting them behind the firewall could be impacted by the pandemic
    wocka wocka wockaWho gave that puppy asparagus?please do not send me private messages - they creep me out 🤢🤮😱
  • logionlogion Posts: 4,712 Member
    troshalom wrote: »
    TS1299 wrote: »
    This is one of the Buggiest Release so far. Great List of features, but awful implementation due to bugs. I really think that this was the most affected back due to Corona Virus Pandemic. Probably, they are near completion of the pack development in March, but due to covid 19 they had to readjust their schedules, change how development works, etc, which explain why there are tons of bugs in this one compared to previous expansion release.

    @TS1299 I was wondering if the pandemic affected this release, regarding the bugs. Form the perspective of hiring contractors to identify and smash bugs - maybe that wasn't done. Working from home should not have impacted that as that is a non issue, but getting hardware to contractors and getting them behind the firewall could be impacted by the pandemic

    I have felt for a while that Maxis QA Team seems to have some problems discovering bugs that make it to the final release, at least from my perspective as a player... Covid19 most likely made it worse.

    They seem to have hired some new people though so hopefully that will help.
  • RouensimsRouensims Posts: 4,858 Member
    edited July 2020
    I'm really enjoying the pack now. I had some frustrating days because I seemed to get the NAP glitch worse than many people did. My Sims couldn't do anything really until I installed the right mod. But now I am back to loving the pack! I love the world, the premades, the Sim traits, the lot traits, the CAS items, and the build/buy items. I haven't done much yet with the community lots or with trying to turn the worlds green. Using the fabricators and other machines is a lot of fun. I'm really glad I bought the pack!

    In case you haven't seen these mods yet, I am using:
    Simvasion's updated (second version) Civic Policy Tweaks mod. This solved all the wacko NAP issues for me!
    I installed Scarlet's No Eco Footprint Decay mod. I don't know if it's working yet, because I haven't really tried changing my worlds' eco footprints yet.
    A mod called MSNoRoughhousing. This stops random fighting. It works perfectly! I haven't yet tested to see whether I still need this mod now that I have the Civic Policy Tweaks 2.0 mod.
    Ooh Be Gah!! Whipna Choba-Dog? Whipna Choba-Dog!! :smiley:
  • SimmervilleSimmerville Posts: 11,644 Member
    My general thought is that too much of the content is too heavily focused on Eco :) I mean, the features would been better if they worked more with other gaming styles. Like, I play rotationally and can't focus on each house for long enough to impact their Eco print. I like the NAP system, but the NAPs themselves are too limited to Eco thinking - would be more fun if some were more general, like making hoods more diverse to normal people - including taxes, scholarships, health effects, pensions, pet welfare, fame effect, etc, non of these relating to Eco but general political programs. I'd like the system to make it easier for a certain family to decide where to settle, but the system is designed to toss around NAPs every week, which is not what I want. So maybe the system could include some long term NAPs and just 1 being changed. The way it is designed might course simmers to play it while the pack is fresh, but then opt out of it.

    I like most BB and new activities like fabricating, candles and juice etc. Also happy with my game focusing more on community aspects and not only single households.

    I hope the Eco focus will be toned down a bit in the future. Even if the theme is fresh and important, I still want to play lots of families that are NOT concerned. EA seems to forget that we have tons of content, and that not all sims will jump onto the Eco wagon. There could be more cross pack features, especially regarding the NAPs system.
    Simmerville on Youtube | My blog is updated weekly: Simmerville's Sims<br>a.jpg
  • OnverserOnverser Posts: 3,364 Member
    edited July 2020
    I agree with most of these, it's a bit of an "eh" pack for me. 50% I think is great and the other 50%... not so much. For a pack centered around saving the environment, the actual saving the environment aspect is terrible. It saves itself with the build-buy, CAS, dumpster diving, community lots and the port neighborhood which is really nice. Those features are what's stopping me from wanting a refund.

    Also hope they update off-the-grid again aswell, it's very lacklustre still. I want to see a total of how much power/water I have, and what items use it and how much they use or how much you require to use it (ie you need 10l of water to have a shower, then you go out and gather water to get those 10l and then your sims can shower). I want that kind of build-up and working towards it rather than just getting a message saying you've reached a power/water surplus. Also if you don't pay the bills on an off the grid lot they take away your power and water... on a lot that doesn't have power and water...
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