My personal belief is that these upcoming pack refreshes that EA and Maxis is making such a big deal about won't change anything.
Things that it will change:
1: The packs and big patches made since its release affecting it in some way.
2: Improved textures to bring it up to date with the current graphics.
3: Making sure it will all fit in with the next expansion, which will look like we're getting new things but really...
4: Bug fixes that break other things.
This is why we're starting with an adequate game pack with no special gameplay additions which is nonetheless very old.
There will not be any gameplay additions, or for that matter any new functional content - we might get a couple of recoloured furniture and a few more clothes at most.
All of this is being done to bring this old pack to the attention of new customers.
The same will go for all of the packs getting a so-called refresh.
Prove me wrong, EA. Prove me wrong.
Prepping a list of mods to add after Infants are placed into the game. Because real life isn't 'nice'.
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I agree, it’ll be bug fixes and graphic improvements.
Really hoping there’ll be more swatches on existing clothes and furniture.
New gameplay would be more costly and I can’t see that happening.
I enjoy it all the same so It doesn't matter if it's a minor change personally.
Though when we had that survey about which gamepack should be updated I left them a nice LONG LONG list of all the possible ways they could update them. So I'm curious.....
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." ~ Mark Twain
I see this upcoming pack refresh as a test refresh. What can the team currently add to the existing code without breaking the entire game? I believe there is a lot of code cleaning to do on each pack and base game. Maintaining The Sims 4 is like a balancing act and so they'd have to start off small before they can move onto bigger, more challenging old content refresh while creating new content also.
I'm going to wait and see. I very much agree with previous comments on here: I will always welcome any improvement to the game experience in The Sims 4, may it big or small-ish or tiny.
I don’t think they would do stuff packs either. Unless they want to bring them up to the content of Paranormal Stuff? 🤔🤷🏼♂️
But I doubt anything notable will be forthcoming. Paintings are not special either. You view them, and they can give you an Emote. Devs have been getting them off freelancers lately too.
Actually there are dozens of things they could do to 'refresh' older packs. One request we have seen over and over is to allow Sims and their households to run a restaurant so DO could be improved upon. We have read over and over how many different packs could be improved upon but that's not what Maxis will do. As others have stated it's going to be something nerfed that some people did like and or some recolor updates so people can squeal for a purple shelf instead of a white one, and or nerf a feature and call it improved because it would be rare to happen after a so called refresh.
What they need to do is refresh the Sim. It's looks, it's graphics, it's art style, it's personality and traits. What they need to do is refresh the family tree to include other family members. What they need to do is refresh how Sims die and where they can be buried. What they need to do is totally Refresh the core base game and leave the packs alone.
However, regardless how many packs they refresh, I wholeheartedly feel they need to release a final patch after they've released their last expansion or pack for the game (a long way off, I know!) and fix EVERYTHING they can. As a farewell patch, if that makes sense. Fix all the bugs, make sure all the packs work smoothly together, and so on and so forth, because honestly as long as they keep adding content, bugs are going to be a constant. It's unfortunate, but that's just programming and development. It's not even anyone's fault entirely, technology is just like that sometimes. Especially as programming, graphics and other aspects relating to development and even gameplay keep advancing and changing- Everything is going to need an update.
I don't expect they'll really add anything but bug fixes with these pack refreshes, but I will admit I am very excited about them! It's about time things started working smoother together
"give new strength or energy to; reinvigorate" That is the meaning of the word 'refresh'. When the teams stated they will be refreshing older packs, my expectations didn't immediately go to new content or gameplay being added during this process. My thought is they are going to clean up the coding, squash some very old bugs, and basically fix the foundation of the game from the base game all the way up to Cottage Living in the hope they can keep Sims4 alive for a couple more years. It's a very ambitious undertaking that will take a fair bit of time and effort. My hopes are for the game to be less buggy once the refreshing process is completed, and we see a decline in the number of glitches in future packs. They will probably include some new assets and content as the game is updated, but I don't expect a complete overhaul happening to older packs. But I am curious about what the end result will look like and if the game will become more stable. The seventh anniversary of Sims4 is right around the corner, the longest life span of any iteration of The Sims. If EA plans to release more content for Sims4, it needs to make sure those new packs and kits will have a stable foundation. And right now, the game is showing it's age as times have changed a lot in the last few years. A bit of a refresh is definitely needed. The order in which packs are refreshed probably won't be in line with when they were released, though. Just because a pack was released at a certain time doesn't mean it wasn't being worked on before or after or at the same time as another pack. The teams don't work on one pack, release it then move on to the next one. Game development is a process that never ends and has many facets.
What I feel they'll add extra is expanding the content... If the pack is Outdoor Retreat I can see them turning Granite Falls into a regular world so we can add residential homes there, add bugs ad herbs to all the other worlds, add swimmable water to the world, update the textures, maybe add the hicking from Snowy Escape (maybe even add some bunny slopes that will spawn if you own SE), maybe they can add bunnies and foxes to GF if you own CL, and MAYBE add more swatches to objects, clothing and maybe a hair or two for male sims to balance the gendered content.
For example, the pond spawners we got with Cottage Living may be expanded to the bugs from Outdoor retreat, so we wouldn't have to keep going back there for bugs. Outdoor retreat may also get hiking trails like Mt Komorebi, and maybe (if we're lucky) even a cliff face to scale. (Not holding out for that last one though, as it would be a pretty major change to the map, and I understand those break saves.) So not new-new gameplay, but new relative to the release of the old pack added in.