@SimGuruDrake Hi Drake, I was just reading your last comment and you said you didn't want to leak anything because it's not worth losing your job, but It got me wondering? Why exactly can't a certain EP be announced in one quarter and spoken about in that quarter if it's not being released within that said quarter? I know Grahams touched on it before but is there a specific rule that stops you guys from doing so? Thank you for coming in here and giving your say also
As I remember it, paid content can be announced whenever (EP, SP, etc), free content has to be announced in the same quarter (nanny, lighting update, etc). So I think they could announce an EP in one quarter and release it the next. That's what they did with GT after all.
But I also remember them saying it's tricky since free content is often tied to paid content, but I'm still confused as to why the have to be tied together. Like why not make different announcements/teasers for EPs/GPs/SPs and patches
@SimGuruDrake Hi Drake, I was just reading your last comment and you said you didn't want to leak anything because it's not worth losing your job, but It got me wondering? Why exactly can't a certain EP be announced in one quarter and spoken about in that quarter if it's not being released within that said quarter? I know Grahams touched on it before but is there a specific rule that stops you guys from doing so? Thank you for coming in here and giving your say also
As I remember it, paid content can be announced whenever (EP, SP, etc), free content has to be announced in the same quarter (nanny, lighting update, etc). So I think they could announce an EP in one quarter and release it the next. That's what they did with GT after all.
But I also remember them saying it's tricky since free content is often tied to paid content, but I'm still confused as to why the have to be tied together. Like why not make different announcements/teasers for EPs/GPs/SPs and patches
It's not about whether or not any EP can be announced outside of a quarter. It's about whether it's ready to be talked about, can we carry the conversation from the moment we talk about it to when it releases, is there anything releasing prior to it that would cause the EP to overshadow that content, Etc.
We like to sometimes theme free content to paid content releasing to at least give a little something to those who may not be able to purchase the paid content right away.
Neither do I. People like shrieking about the sky falling in for no apparent reason. When it's put into perspective, the last pack was recently released. It's not like they stopped releasing things. There's no proof that there are issues with the games engine. There's no less content than there was for other iterations, to the best of my knowledge. People like doomsaying here.
I think people are going too far, but there is evidence of problems: low population limits, culling, relationship decay/culling...
How much expansion can we expect when playing the game with the released packs already affects performance so much that culling/decay was added as a performance fix, (even if it the gurus say decay is over-aggressive)? Does it really make sense to expect them to add many more worlds when the population limit is so low? Unless something major changes, I don't think there's room for much more.
I don't have an issue with low population limits. I have a lot of sims on every lot.
Sorry if I was confusing. That's not really what I mean. I mean the limit of 210 sims per save/game. If it's exceeded, sims are culled. It's hard for me to imagine many more worlds being added when a lot of people are already hitting the limit and experiencing culling.
I thought it was suppose to have went up from an earlier patch after Get Together came out. Last I heard they wouldn't get culled till it went over 800 or 1800 forget which.
Back to the EP they could announce it in Early October and release it in Mid November. I don't think the wait will be as long this time after the EP is announced. I hope not anyway. I'm also wanting a second Gamepack this year but if we can't get that then a Stuffpack after the EP release about a month after.
WOW! I don't remember anything like this. I thought it was still 210- I usually follow the patch notes and the topics here after the patch and I can't remember ANYTHING about an increase like this.
Neither do I. People like shrieking about the sky falling in for no apparent reason. When it's put into perspective, the last pack was recently released. It's not like they stopped releasing things. There's no proof that there are issues with the games engine. There's no less content than there was for other iterations, to the best of my knowledge. People like doomsaying here.
I think people are going too far, but there is evidence of problems: low population limits, culling, relationship decay/culling...
How much expansion can we expect when playing the game with the released packs already affects performance so much that culling/decay was added as a performance fix, (even if it the gurus say decay is over-aggressive)? Does it really make sense to expect them to add many more worlds when the population limit is so low? Unless something major changes, I don't think there's room for much more.
I don't have an issue with low population limits. I have a lot of sims on every lot.
Sorry if I was confusing. That's not really what I mean. I mean the limit of 210 sims per save/game. If it's exceeded, sims are culled. It's hard for me to imagine many more worlds being added when a lot of people are already hitting the limit and experiencing culling.
I thought it was suppose to have went up from an earlier patch after Get Together came out. Last I heard they wouldn't get culled till it went over 800 or 1800 forget which.
Back to the EP they could announce it in Early October and release it in Mid November. I don't think the wait will be as long this time after the EP is announced. I hope not anyway. I'm also wanting a second Gamepack this year but if we can't get that then a Stuffpack after the EP release about a month after.
WOW! I don't remember anything like this. I thought it was still 210- I usually follow the patch notes and the topics here after the patch and I can't remember ANYTHING about an increase like this.
It was said on Twitter by SimGuruDaniel.
Could you find the link to that tweet? As I remember as well, it was still at around 210ish from when they patched it a little higher before GT came out. I don't remember anything on it being as high as 800-1800.
@SimGuruDrake are you able to tell us the max number of sims per save?
Yes, please. I've just searched SimGuruDaniel's twitter page & only found a post on I believe Nov. 12th where he said the cap would be increased but didn't mention any number. After that, I haven't seen any tweet mentioning the cap increasing.
I think it was raised from 180 to 210, but I'm not sure.
That's exactly what I thought, too. It was to help make room for GT premades if I recall correctly, so our sims wouldn't be culled if we were pushing the 180 cap when we installed GT.
Annoyed. They've already proven that it makes no difference how long a pack takes to develop. The quality is the same. So I don't understand why they are taking their time all of a sudden.
At this rate we're going to get like 5 expansions...
I dunno, there's something niggling me in my something-meter that tells me something's not quite right at the Sims Studios. I am getting this real sense of uncertainty. At the very least I sense that the way the workflow is being done currently, no one even at EA is completely sure more than a couple of weeks ahead exactly what order anything will be completed and released in. That's why, even *within* the restrictions of the current accounting quarter, we still are not being told "this month x, next month y" etc. I don't mind that model, it is more responsive to bugfixes etc than their old 6-month planned-ahead release cycle. But other companies that operate live/agile are still not so obviously secretive, they will still say "we're working on whatever but not sure when it will be ready". Maybe EA just needs more practice at being secretive without it being so obvious lol!
As long as it's not an announcement of an announcement of an announcement of an announcement. Nintendo do that and hats why i on't buy Nintndo products.
Neither do I. People like shrieking about the sky falling in for no apparent reason. When it's put into perspective, the last pack was recently released. It's not like they stopped releasing things. There's no proof that there are issues with the games engine. There's no less content than there was for other iterations, to the best of my knowledge. People like doomsaying here.
I think people are going too far, but there is evidence of problems: low population limits, culling, relationship decay/culling...
How much expansion can we expect when playing the game with the released packs already affects performance so much that culling/decay was added as a performance fix, (even if it the gurus say decay is over-aggressive)? Does it really make sense to expect them to add many more worlds when the population limit is so low? Unless something major changes, I don't think there's room for much more.
I don't have an issue with low population limits. I have a lot of sims on every lot.
Sorry if I was confusing. That's not really what I mean. I mean the limit of 210 sims per save/game. If it's exceeded, sims are culled. It's hard for me to imagine many more worlds being added when a lot of people are already hitting the limit and experiencing culling.
I thought it was suppose to have went up from an earlier patch after Get Together came out. Last I heard they wouldn't get culled till it went over 800 or 1800 forget which.
Back to the EP they could announce it in Early October and release it in Mid November. I don't think the wait will be as long this time after the EP is announced. I hope not anyway. I'm also wanting a second Gamepack this year but if we can't get that then a Stuffpack after the EP release about a month after.
WOW! I don't remember anything like this. I thought it was still 210- I usually follow the patch notes and the topics here after the patch and I can't remember ANYTHING about an increase like this.
It was said on Twitter by SimGuruDaniel.
Could you find the link to that tweet? As I remember as well, it was still at around 210ish from when they patched it a little higher before GT came out. I don't remember anything on it being as high as 800-1800.
This is why I don't play Sims 4 as often as I should because the lack of an EP, so that's why I do other things to keep me from going insane-oh, wait, I'm already insane, lol, I play other games to keep me busy until the next EP comes out, plus when I do play Sims 4, it's usually building restaurants or homes and not gameplay, ya know -lack of *cough* ''toddlers'' and babies attached to a crib! I did however do the egg hunt and grow fruit challenge, that was fun-while it lasted, but anything else is lack of or boring!
Neither do I. People like shrieking about the sky falling in for no apparent reason. When it's put into perspective, the last pack was recently released. It's not like they stopped releasing things. There's no proof that there are issues with the games engine. There's no less content than there was for other iterations, to the best of my knowledge. People like doomsaying here.
I think people are going too far, but there is evidence of problems: low population limits, culling, relationship decay/culling...
How much expansion can we expect when playing the game with the released packs already affects performance so much that culling/decay was added as a performance fix, (even if it the gurus say decay is over-aggressive)? Does it really make sense to expect them to add many more worlds when the population limit is so low? Unless something major changes, I don't think there's room for much more.
I don't have an issue with low population limits. I have a lot of sims on every lot.
Sorry if I was confusing. That's not really what I mean. I mean the limit of 210 sims per save/game. If it's exceeded, sims are culled. It's hard for me to imagine many more worlds being added when a lot of people are already hitting the limit and experiencing culling.
I thought it was suppose to have went up from an earlier patch after Get Together came out. Last I heard they wouldn't get culled till it went over 800 or 1800 forget which.
Back to the EP they could announce it in Early October and release it in Mid November. I don't think the wait will be as long this time after the EP is announced. I hope not anyway. I'm also wanting a second Gamepack this year but if we can't get that then a Stuffpack after the EP release about a month after.
WOW! I don't remember anything like this. I thought it was still 210- I usually follow the patch notes and the topics here after the patch and I can't remember ANYTHING about an increase like this.
It was said on Twitter by SimGuruDaniel.
Could you find the link to that tweet? As I remember as well, it was still at around 210ish from when they patched it a little higher before GT came out. I don't remember anything on it being as high as 800-1800.
That was last year so it got lost.
Well, if it is/were at 1800(! ten times the original cap) or even 800 then I think confirmation of that alone would help alleviate some concern about the stability of the game engine as EPs are introduced and therefore ease people's mind (to some limited extent) about the longevity that can be expected with Sims 4. It was/is one of my biggest concerns in any event but without some sort of official confirmation I still can't find myself believing it.
Everyone is like "they just had several packs in a row" and I'm sitting here like y'all realize stuff packs have like barely any gameplay right? No one gives a hoot that we got a bunch of new hair or clothes. While nice and all, I want, nay NEED gameplay. I NEED more space for the lots I have and for the neighborhood I want to play. I barely play because if I do I run out of space and become extremely bored since all the gameplay added in the 2 years was able to be completed in a matter of a month of consistent play. Get together and Get to work were NOT real expansions they barely had any content compared to prior expansions. Half baked systems at that. Get together literally needs stuff packs because half the clubs all end up being the same otherwise, the lack of activities really killed it. This point EP3 better actually be a real expansion or they can just forget it. I'm not interested in buying half-baked product.
We also had a Game Pack, we didn't just get Stuff Packs.
Live your life to the fullest, don't wait for a miracle to happen, be the miracle to make things happen.
Sometimes your creativity is limited where you use it most, but you can use those limitations to inspire new forms of creativity you may never have thought of beforehand.
Everyone is like "they just had several packs in a row" and I'm sitting here like y'all realize stuff packs have like barely any gameplay right? No one gives a hoot that we got a bunch of new hair or clothes. While nice and all, I want, nay NEED gameplay. I NEED more space for the lots I have and for the neighborhood I want to play. I barely play because if I do I run out of space and become extremely bored since all the gameplay added in the 2 years was able to be completed in a matter of a month of consistent play. Get together and Get to work were NOT real expansions they barely had any content compared to prior expansions. Half baked systems at that. Get together literally needs stuff packs because half the clubs all end up being the same otherwise, the lack of activities really killed it. This point EP3 better actually be a real expansion or they can just forget it. I'm not interested in buying half-baked product.
We also had a Game Pack, we didn't just get Stuff Packs.
Not everyone liked DO. Some of us wanted a real restaurant pack. I would have liked a real GP and not an enhanced Diner Dash.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
Everyone is like "they just had several packs in a row" and I'm sitting here like y'all realize stuff packs have like barely any gameplay right? No one gives a hoot that we got a bunch of new hair or clothes. While nice and all, I want, nay NEED gameplay. I NEED more space for the lots I have and for the neighborhood I want to play. I barely play because if I do I run out of space and become extremely bored since all the gameplay added in the 2 years was able to be completed in a matter of a month of consistent play. Get together and Get to work were NOT real expansions they barely had any content compared to prior expansions. Half baked systems at that. Get together literally needs stuff packs because half the clubs all end up being the same otherwise, the lack of activities really killed it. This point EP3 better actually be a real expansion or they can just forget it. I'm not interested in buying half-baked product.
We also had a Game Pack, we didn't just get Stuff Packs.
Not everyone liked DO. Some of us wanted a real restaurant pack. I would have liked a real GP and not an enhanced Diner Dash.
Not everyone is going to like every pack, regardless of what is included, I personally wasn't that fond of it either but it's still a real GP.
Live your life to the fullest, don't wait for a miracle to happen, be the miracle to make things happen.
Sometimes your creativity is limited where you use it most, but you can use those limitations to inspire new forms of creativity you may never have thought of beforehand.
Annoyed. They've already proven that it makes no difference how long a pack takes to develop. The quality is the same. So I don't understand why they are taking their time all of a sudden.
At this rate we're going to get like 5 expansions...
When have they 'proven' this might I ask?
Live your life to the fullest, don't wait for a miracle to happen, be the miracle to make things happen.
Sometimes your creativity is limited where you use it most, but you can use those limitations to inspire new forms of creativity you may never have thought of beforehand.
There are so many things that I want in this game that were in Sims 3, let alone things that would actually be new, that I've accepted will simply never come because the expansions and packs are releasing content so slowly that it will be over ten years before they get around to it at this rate, maybe even more!
If it takes them three years to add toddlers what does that say about the other lifestates, pets and seasons? We'll be on to the Sims 5 before we have as much content as the Sims 3 with two expansions.
Everyone is like "they just had several packs in a row" and I'm sitting here like y'all realize stuff packs have like barely any gameplay right? No one gives a hoot that we got a bunch of new hair or clothes. While nice and all, I want, nay NEED gameplay. I NEED more space for the lots I have and for the neighborhood I want to play. I barely play because if I do I run out of space and become extremely bored since all the gameplay added in the 2 years was able to be completed in a matter of a month of consistent play. Get together and Get to work were NOT real expansions they barely had any content compared to prior expansions. Half baked systems at that. Get together literally needs stuff packs because half the clubs all end up being the same otherwise, the lack of activities really killed it. This point EP3 better actually be a real expansion or they can just forget it. I'm not interested in buying half-baked product.
We also had a Game Pack, we didn't just get Stuff Packs.
Not everyone liked DO. Some of us wanted a real restaurant pack. I would have liked a real GP and not an enhanced Diner Dash.
Not everyone is going to like every pack, regardless of what is included, I personally wasn't that fond of it either but it's still a real GP.
But you know I'm not that hard to please. You would think that out of the dozen or so packs that have been released one of them would have hit on something that interests me.
Yes DO is a real GP but it still makes me think of an enhanced Diner Dash.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
At this point I'm kinda numb to it all. I don't expect them to do the obvious like communicate or deliver what we asked for because that simply makes too much sense.
It's sad the way EA refuses to communicate anything with us until a week or so before something releases. It just comes down to out of touch management really, look at the state they released the game in. I'm not surprised by the silence, the excuses, giving us everything except what we have asked for, or blaming us because they can't deliver what they promised. I'm sure their handling the next EP like what can we give them that will shut them up other than generations, supernatural, seasons, and pets..what about picnics? Jokes aside, I do think the next EP may be decent just not exactly what we asked for. I just don't have high expectations for them at all, especially when they went back on their word with video teasers and gave us a gif.
I wanted to specifically address the part in bold regarding our teasers.
The quarterly teasers are a new thing, we've never done them before which means there will be a lot of experimentation on how we do them until we feel we get to a good place where it meets our expectations and yours. Especially during down times where we aren't releasing paid content and just don't have enough for a video. We know now that a GIF / animated render is not a good avenue for showing content and will make sure we don't do those for quarterly teasers going forward.
@SimGuruDrake I don't want to be offensive, I appreciate your work as the community manager, but when it comes to marketing content, shouldn't EA have professionals that know all the tricks and stuff to approach people with payed content? Why are you (the team) experimenting on us when these things should be known?
I think there seems to be some misunderstanding of how things work within a studio team so I'll try to explain the best I can:
The Quarterly Teasers, Blogs, Live streams, and Social Posts are not handled by Product Marketing. They are handled by Communications / Community Engagement (my team) which are completely separate from Product Marketing.
Quarterly Teasers have only been part of our communications strategy until very recently and only because you, the core community, were wanting more news outside of our normal cadence of communication. I, personally, think we do a fantastic job of communicating content on announce and heading into release. We make sure we highlight what is and isn't available in the pack because we know the things that you truly care to know about in any given piece of content and I have even made sure to now have a live stream the Friday prior to release so it gives you plenty of time to contemplate your purchase after seeing actual game play and had your questions answered.
But quarterly teasers are a new thing for our team. It's not something that we ever planned on having and because there are so many voices who want different things out of these teasers we are trying to make sure we can try to hit as many of those requests as possible while also making sure that our Team and the NA and International Marketing Teams don't have their campaigns for the content hurt prior to it's official full announce / reveal.
We have to think about things on a much larger scale than just "giving a hint". Our team has to think about how this will affect the way other teams are able to effectively communicate things out --could it affect their campaigns, could this affect how retailers are able to market the product, could this affect how we are able to effectively talk about something, can or should we start talking about that one thing once we hint it out, will the community take this and speculate in a completely wrong direction, how will this affect the way the SimGurus engage with the community, etc.
Let's get even more honest here: Would I like to be selfish and just tell you all the things? Of course! I AM a fan of the franchise and I DO get extremely excited about the things this incredible team is working on. But giving you a leak isn't worth the stress or losing my job. Which is why I've repeatedly tried to find a middle ground to pacify your want for more information while also recognizing there are much more things in play than you are able to see.
Thanks for the clarification, it's actually very much appreciated.
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But I also remember them saying it's tricky since free content is often tied to paid content, but I'm still confused as to why the have to be tied together. Like why not make different announcements/teasers for EPs/GPs/SPs and patches
It's not about whether or not any EP can be announced outside of a quarter. It's about whether it's ready to be talked about, can we carry the conversation from the moment we talk about it to when it releases, is there anything releasing prior to it that would cause the EP to overshadow that content, Etc.
We like to sometimes theme free content to paid content releasing to at least give a little something to those who may not be able to purchase the paid content right away.
It was said on Twitter by SimGuruDaniel.
Could you find the link to that tweet? As I remember as well, it was still at around 210ish from when they patched it a little higher before GT came out. I don't remember anything on it being as high as 800-1800.
Yes, please. I've just searched SimGuruDaniel's twitter page & only found a post on I believe Nov. 12th where he said the cap would be increased but didn't mention any number. After that, I haven't seen any tweet mentioning the cap increasing.
Edit for forum source (user speculation that it's 210): http://forums.thesims.com/en_Us/discussion/867357/has-the-180-sim-limit-been-upped
That's exactly what I thought, too. It was to help make room for GT premades if I recall correctly, so our sims wouldn't be culled if we were pushing the 180 cap when we installed GT.
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At this rate we're going to get like 5 expansions...
That was last year so it got lost.
Well, if it is/were at 1800(! ten times the original cap) or even 800 then I think confirmation of that alone would help alleviate some concern about the stability of the game engine as EPs are introduced and therefore ease people's mind (to some limited extent) about the longevity that can be expected with Sims 4. It was/is one of my biggest concerns in any event but without some sort of official confirmation I still can't find myself believing it.
We also had a Game Pack, we didn't just get Stuff Packs.
Sometimes your creativity is limited where you use it most, but you can use those limitations to inspire new forms of creativity you may never have thought of beforehand.
Not everyone liked DO. Some of us wanted a real restaurant pack. I would have liked a real GP and not an enhanced Diner Dash.
Not everyone is going to like every pack, regardless of what is included, I personally wasn't that fond of it either but it's still a real GP.
Sometimes your creativity is limited where you use it most, but you can use those limitations to inspire new forms of creativity you may never have thought of beforehand.
When have they 'proven' this might I ask?
Sometimes your creativity is limited where you use it most, but you can use those limitations to inspire new forms of creativity you may never have thought of beforehand.
There are so many things that I want in this game that were in Sims 3, let alone things that would actually be new, that I've accepted will simply never come because the expansions and packs are releasing content so slowly that it will be over ten years before they get around to it at this rate, maybe even more!
If it takes them three years to add toddlers what does that say about the other lifestates, pets and seasons? We'll be on to the Sims 5 before we have as much content as the Sims 3 with two expansions.
But you know I'm not that hard to please. You would think that out of the dozen or so packs that have been released one of them would have hit on something that interests me.
Yes DO is a real GP but it still makes me think of an enhanced Diner Dash.
Thanks for the clarification, it's actually very much appreciated.