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New Players to the Base Game and Pack Refreshes
Mistletoe143
Posts: 2,803 Member
Now, that EA is making the Sims 4 Base Game free to play as of October 18th, I believe that more Pack Refreshes are on the way. Because EA can now justify the costs involved in giving simmers free refreshes to older add-on packs. With potentially a lot more players coming to the base game, Maxis can justify refreshing (and fixing gameplay) packs such as Dine Out, Outdoor Retreat, Get To Work, as well as adding more free updates to the Base Game.
Personally, I am excited with the prospect of new Pack Refreshes. I really want Dine Out and Outdoor Retreat to be both fixed game-wise and new content added.
Especially with Outdoor Retreat, I want the lake to be made swimmable with paddle boats or canoes. I would like sleeping bags and possibly archery and log rolling to be added. It would be nice to have new binoculars with a bird watching collection added. I would also appreciate hiking trails added, as well as a summer camp lot added for scouts with space to add items from the Little Campers Kit. I would also like a community lodge lot added with a swimming pool and indoor seating area with grand fireplace and upright piano, as well as an indoor dancing area, dining area/kitchen, small tv/card game room, and small library/computer area. It would be neat to have the community lodge to be a new multi use lot type so you can decorate it for various festivals like winter or spring/summer fest or seasons without needing to redecorate it every time. There could also be a park rangers nature center that could be a small museum with various collections on display. Ideally, I would like the map to be expanded (adding like more space to the forest area) so these new lots and hiking trails can be added without needing to bulldoze existing lots that came with the original dlc. It would also be nice to have another campground lot with new tents and possible glamping.
Please share your thoughts on the possibility of more Pack Refreshes coming along with any of your ideas for them. Happy Simming!
Personally, I am excited with the prospect of new Pack Refreshes. I really want Dine Out and Outdoor Retreat to be both fixed game-wise and new content added.
Especially with Outdoor Retreat, I want the lake to be made swimmable with paddle boats or canoes. I would like sleeping bags and possibly archery and log rolling to be added. It would be nice to have new binoculars with a bird watching collection added. I would also appreciate hiking trails added, as well as a summer camp lot added for scouts with space to add items from the Little Campers Kit. I would also like a community lodge lot added with a swimming pool and indoor seating area with grand fireplace and upright piano, as well as an indoor dancing area, dining area/kitchen, small tv/card game room, and small library/computer area. It would be neat to have the community lodge to be a new multi use lot type so you can decorate it for various festivals like winter or spring/summer fest or seasons without needing to redecorate it every time. There could also be a park rangers nature center that could be a small museum with various collections on display. Ideally, I would like the map to be expanded (adding like more space to the forest area) so these new lots and hiking trails can be added without needing to bulldoze existing lots that came with the original dlc. It would also be nice to have another campground lot with new tents and possible glamping.
Please share your thoughts on the possibility of more Pack Refreshes coming along with any of your ideas for them. Happy Simming!
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Comments
- Get to Work integrate and open up hospitals and the police station to normal game play and fix the poor attempt at retail that did not even offer a working cash register about 7 years since that pack was released and I have yet to have people chase me around with a tablet in a store. Also add in retail game play such as changing rooms and interactive clothing racks and displays and store shelving that can hold many objects
- Outdoor Retreat is missing 3 important things hiking trials, open water and a summer camp type experience for kids and teens
- Dine Out is missing creative control forcing you to run it only as a manager locking you out of playing waiter hostess or cook and forcing you to hire npcs not family members or your own Sims you want to see there
- Get Famous world is missing beach front property and if any world should have had a carnival at the pier this would be it
- Island Living needs more activities to do on this Island seeing as "Island Living" is all this pack has to offer and they did not do that right no dive lots for mermaids no surfing climbing trees to collect coconuts or really anything I don't see trash pickup a huge part of living on an Island how boring.
- Snowy escape needs a halfpipe added so its content is not all locked to a few lots
- Cats and Dogs There's really no salvaging this pack since pets are not playable and can't have careers like in older games but at least give us a doghouse. Or maybe they could put some other animals in this pack seeing how bare minimum it is
No doubt there will be a bump in daily active users in the short-term. But the Sims 4 base game is quite empty by itself. I don't know how successful the base will be at hooking in new players to buy DLC.
Don't get me wrong. I would love pack refreshes to update older packs and get them to reach more of their potential. I just don't think making the base game free increases the odds of pack refreshes happening.
If they do a refresh I hope it will be a realm of magic refresh with magic for children, a magic lot trait for magical places outside of the magic realm and pet dragons.
More base game players equals more potential buyers for the older expansions and game packs. Also, although I do not know anything about coding, I believe that it might be easier to update content on older dlc instead of starting from scratch with brand-new expansions and game packs. So, as it seems they might be limiting brand-new expansions to once a year and 2-3 brand-new game packs a year, pack refreshes might be a lucrative way to use talent, time, and resources. Especially, in this time when many people are still working from home and it is hard to coordinate team work from a distance. Plus free content is always a great hit with current players, along with being a goodwill gesture to those who have already spent so much on the existing game.
It’s interesting to see what you guys want in terms of fixes. I certainly agree that the Dine Out gameplay could use some love. It could be SO good but I find it difficult to use the restaurants as a diner because of the AI problems.
Other than that, I’d like to see new plots added to some worlds. Specifically the smaller ones like Forgotten Hollow and Granite Falls
My number one wish though is an overhaul of playable ghosts.I’d looove to see them get the kind of attention some other occults have had with new abilities like possession, teleporting as a standard movement or gaining the ability to become temporarily corporeal. Plus adding them to CAS
Overall though it’s really good news that any kind of refresh project is on the cards!