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Sims 4 vs Sims 3 DLC Timeline

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IanamusIanamus Posts: 101 Member
I know it's been said that we shouldn't compare the Sims 3 and Sims 4 DLC release schedules, but given the recent tension I thought it would be interesting to see. So I created a timeline that should make comparisons easier. Numbers aren't necessarily completely exact, and I apologize for the mediocre quality.

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Hopefully someone will find this interesting or useful.
Post edited by Ianamus on

Comments

  • DeKayDeKay Posts: 81,472 Member
    Haahaa, gotta remember those months from 8-12 where I was like, "whoa, slow down there a bit, I need to save up my money." XD
    Thank you for taking the time to make this awesome timeline. Good job.
    My Top Song of the Day: Fancy Footwork by Chromeo
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  • NZsimm3rNZsimm3r Posts: 9,265 Member
    Wow...great timeline! Thanks. :)
    I'm a girl who likes to play with boys, what can I say... o:)

    “Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
  • ravamaileravamaile Posts: 168 Member
    8:13. Really, it's quantity over quality.
    If people were not interested in what we were making we wouldn't continue what we are making. Our data shows us differently. (c) - @SimGuruDrake (LINK)
    Complexity is our enemy when building The Sims, so we look for any opportunity to keep it down. (c) - @SimGuruMax (LINK)
  • KHS12KHS12 Posts: 3,023 Member
    Brilliant! TS3 will always be my favorite in the franchise. I always felt taken care of by the game-makers because there wasn't a single EP I didn't love playing with and there were *so* many.
  • luthienrisingluthienrising Posts: 37,617 Member
    Thank you for this! It certainly puts the complaints about content gaps into perspective. Maybe those people used to buy store sets regularly? (I bought very few until it seemed the only way to get a gameplay item.)
    EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
  • alejandro15039alejandro15039 Posts: 939 Member
    It's crazy to think how many packs we have by now, but none of them reaches the Sims 3 content we had at the same time...
  • noxximsnoxxims Posts: 134 Member
    The timeline is genius. The way things are laid out it would seem like we've gotten a lot more content for ts4 but we know that's not really the case... feels like we've been waiting a while for a substantial pack.
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  • luthienrisingluthienrising Posts: 37,617 Member
    It's crazy to think how many packs we have by now, but none of them reaches the Sims 3 content we had at the same time...

    That part's subjective. At this point, I was still meh about all the Sims 3 packs, personally (but had all the EPs at this point, and an SP), and my recommended-level computer wasn't keen on Bridgeport. :/ I think a lot of gameplay/content value comes down to your play style etc. and isn't really measurable.
    EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
  • Playerthe95Playerthe95 Posts: 129 Member
    It's a lot more now but I personally treat stuff packs as store items and game packs sort of replacing stuff packs as we knew them. If the stuff packs were removed it would seem more like The Sims 3 besides the shorter gap between expansions and game packs, but a longer gap between expansions.
  • Gabe_ozGabe_oz Posts: 1,880 Member
    ravamaile wrote: »
    8:13. Really, it's quantity over quality.

    Not really. Graham said apart from the gameplay added in SPs, the rest of the items and stuff are outsourced.
  • IanamusIanamus Posts: 101 Member
    edited July 2016
    It's crazy to think how many packs we have by now, but none of them reaches the Sims 3 content we had at the same time...

    That part's subjective. At this point, I was still meh about all the Sims 3 packs, personally (but had all the EPs at this point, and an SP), and my recommended-level computer wasn't keen on Bridgeport. :/ I think a lot of gameplay/content value comes down to your play style etc. and isn't really measurable.

    I think it ultimately depends on what content you are looking for. Sims 4 certainly looks fine for people who enjoy stuff packs.

    On the one hand I'm concerned about the lack of supernaturals in Sims 4, since they have only added aliens in the period Sims 3 added four (mummies, simbots, vampires and imaginary friends). But then when I thought about it, the only one of those I actually played frequently were imaginary friends, and it wasn't until Supernatural and Seasons that I got the ones I really enjoyed. I do wish we had more worlds though.

    Sims 4 DLC has been better paced than I expected it to be going in. I had to fix the image slightly though, as I'd made a mistake with the length of the coming summer. It's a bit more of a noticeable gap coming up now.
  • Rflong7Rflong7 Posts: 36,584 Member
    edited July 2016
    Yeah... Stuff packs! That's the way to make an Expansion, lots and lots of Stuff packs.

    You forgot the Store content. :)

    *CAW... So much added by just a wonderful tool. Stories.... imagination.- Awesomeness.
  • IanamusIanamus Posts: 101 Member
    Rflong7 wrote: »
    Yeah... Stuff packs! That's the way to make an Expansion, lots and lots of Stuff packs.

    You forgot the Store content. :)

    *CAW... So much added by just a wonderful tool. Stories.... imagination.- Awesomeness.

    I didn't forget it, I just had to leave out store content for the Sims 3 to avoid cluttering it too much. You'll notice I did add the new neighborhoods released on the store.

    It's why I also didn't add the free patch content released for the Sims 4.
  • Rflong7Rflong7 Posts: 36,584 Member
    edited July 2016
    Ianamus wrote: »
    Rflong7 wrote: »
    Yeah... Stuff packs! That's the way to make an Expansion, lots and lots of Stuff packs.

    You forgot the Store content. :)

    *CAW... So much added by just a wonderful tool. Stories.... imagination.- Awesomeness.

    I didn't forget it, I just had to leave out store content for the Sims 3 to avoid cluttering it too much. You'll notice I did add the new neighborhoods released on the store.

    It's why I also didn't add the free patch content released for the Sims 4.

    Because you'd have to add free patch content released for TS3, too? *& the free Optional Store sets. :lol:

    Yes, I'm sure it'd clutter it up... might just have a Huge Store panel across the top of TS3 timeline. :lol:
    I couldn't afford much of the store in the beginning... was so happy when I got WA and 10$ in free Simpoints. :)
    Post edited by Rflong7 on
  • TwiprinTwiprin Posts: 144 Member
    edited July 2016
    Thanks a lot for this! This puts quite a bit into perspective. In truth...it's probably just me since I wasn't big into the TS3 store but the content more or less looks the same in quantity to me. If you did add the TS3 store content the amount of "stuff packs" would probably look much more equal between the two versions.

    Regardless, this is awesome. Very curious to see how the next few months play out ^_^b

    EDIT: Granted, it is a bit of a sore spot of no known EP03 launch date. Because otherwise the release times for gameplay upgrades (GPs and EPs) look nearly identical.
  • NeiaNeia Posts: 4,190 Member
    I wish the packs were a bit more evenly spread. There're these hole in the timeline (12-15, 17-20) which I don't like.
  • TerraTerra Posts: 1,353 Member
    While this is a really helpful chart in terms of when we got gameplay DLC, for me it misleads about the amount of 'stuff packs' we got since TS3 had so much available on the store. I realize that this would have cluttered up your chart so I don't blame you for that, OP. But I will say that TS3's store sets gave me so many more storytelling options with the items, clothing and worlds spanning many different cultures and time periods. For me as a storyteller, one of TS4's biggest weak points is that it lacks these multicultural and multitemporal (?) options. And I never got TS3:WA or TS3:ITF, so for me all my stories set in different time periods and locations were made possible by the Store content.
  • MoodbeamyMoodbeamy Posts: 1,510 Member
    Ianamus wrote: »
    Rflong7 wrote: »
    Yeah... Stuff packs! That's the way to make an Expansion, lots and lots of Stuff packs.

    You forgot the Store content. :)

    *CAW... So much added by just a wonderful tool. Stories.... imagination.- Awesomeness.

    I didn't forget it, I just had to leave out store content for the Sims 3 to avoid cluttering it too much. You'll notice I did add the new neighborhoods released on the store.

    It's why I also didn't add the free patch content released for the Sims 4.

    I don't think that this will ever work as a true comparison unless the store sets are included. You can't make a true comparison chart but choose to omit half of the content released for one of the games; that will only work to make you look biased as the creator in favour of making the situation of content releases for look TS4 far better than it actually is.
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  • CravenLestatCravenLestat Posts: 13,735 Member
    edited July 2016
    @Rflong7 Ahh the memories, I remember my 10 dollars of free simpoints and going through the store choosing the most possible cheap decor and plants I could find that added up to 1,000 SP it took me MANY hours.Was like Christmas going through a toy store with a thousand bucks trying to get the most you liked without going over.Quantity was more important than quality early on for making a house look liveable.

    Although did end up getting a cool bathtub I think which was the most expensive item I picked like around 50 Sp. :p Think it was the vorn bathtub that sits in a wood frame,had to have it. :)
    I Play Sims 3 On A Potato

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  • Sk8rblazeSk8rblaze Posts: 7,570 Member
    I love the consistency this timeline shows, concerning TS3.

    TS4 looks like a jumbled, unpredictable mess. How about we remove the stuff packs, or at least the frequency of them, and put the resources gained towards game packs, and try to push for putting out at least one expansion that we know we could always expect to see on a specific quarter of the year?
  • MoodbeamyMoodbeamy Posts: 1,510 Member
    Sk8rblaze wrote: »
    I love the consistency this timeline shows, concerning TS3.

    TS4 looks like a jumbled, unpredictable mess. How about we remove the stuff packs, or at least the frequency of them, and put the resources gained towards game packs, and try to push for putting out at least one expansion that we know we could always expect to see on a specific quarter of the year?

    Actually in all fairness when you look at the GPs and EPs for TS4 on the timeline they're not that far out of sync with the EPs and SPs of TS3; the difference is that the gaps for them in TS4 have varied a little; they haven't followed the strict three month pattern between releases in TS3. I think we've also come to expect more as a consumer simply because we were so overindulged with TS3 Store and the fortnightly content releases. Now if you consider TS4 SPs to be replacing store content then we're still not getting as much as we did in TS3and it's nowhere near as consistent; some view this as a good thing; many wanted less content for TS4 after complaining that TS3 Store was simply a step too far and piled on too much content; others are disappointed (such as myself) because they enjoyed the Store content and felt that it gave new life to the game twice a month; there was always something to look forward to and hey, if you didn't like the content you didn't have to buy it but it was certainly nice to have the option. I think that's the main issue with TS4; the lack of any consistent release schedule and the drop in the number of releases purely because we no longer have the Store dropping packs in the way it did.
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  • NeiaNeia Posts: 4,190 Member
    The lack of a pattern is what bother me the most about TS4 release schedule. That's why I love the new teasers, it removes this uncertainty.
  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    Gabe_oz wrote: »
    ravamaile wrote: »
    8:13. Really, it's quantity over quality.

    Not really. Graham said apart from the gameplay added in SPs, the rest of the items and stuff are outsourced.

    I don't see where this argument counters what ravamaile said tbh.
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  • SimaniteSimanite Posts: 4,833 Member
    I loved TS3's 2012 timeline: 3 EPs, 3 SPs, 4 worlds and bi-monthly Store sets. Now those were the days. :mrgreen:
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