TS is not a game for such aggressive microtransactions. Nobody wants to buy activities for seasons that are separated into four different packs. That is what Lyndsay Pearson said and I am still shocked about it.

TS4 started the piecemealing of content a long time ago with, for example, restaurants having their own pack. Then kits came along and now we will have paid events. I am hopeful that there won't be any paid events, but I won't be surprised.

I personally consider kits to be microtransactions, but I know a lot of people don't agree with me about that which is fine. I don't expect anybody to agree with anything I say about this game or franchise. I'm already a square peg as I treat my game like a game, not a life line. I digress.

Pixelade has recently put out a good video talking about Maxis and their 'transparency'. Anybody that has been around for while already knows how problematic this is and has been a issue for a long time. It took them 10 years to confess their game is a hot mess. That sez something. Along those lines, they're back on the "We hear you" kick, but their actions tell a completely different story. I'm not on social media so I can't say the following with a full chest statement, but I don't recall anybody ever asking for a blinking shopping cart or for TS4 to become a mobile game. I could sit here and make a list for things that were put in game that were never asked for just as anybody else can.

To dig a even bigger hole, they [Maxis] are on another kick. That kick being talking about how they have such a great relationship with this community. A toxic relationship is not strong or great. It's ugly, dysfunctional, ect... If things were so wonderful in this community, they wouldn't have to resort to their tactics of trying to reel people back in to the play the game. The fact that they failed at their own tactic is hilarious and comical. Put pictures on a screen with locks, but then don't actually lock the content. Gotta keep the standards bar at ground level.

Again, Maxis fails to read the room. They're not listening, they're not transparent and it is business as usual. It's the metaphor that somebody on here already used about a frog being in a pan of water. I will give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to what they can and what they cannot say because I'm sure Andrew Wilson has strong rules regarding such matters, but even so, what they say and what they mean are two completely different things.

Graham made a appearance on Twitter a week or so ago wagging his finger about how people should wait for things to be put into context. This came after everybody was complaining about 5 slots being used for rocks in one of the new kits. I agree that context matters, but seriously. 5 slots for a kit when the fountain could have been added to a expansion pack or something else. It's right up there with people paying a dollar each for 4 vacuums and a handheld vac in the Bust The Dust kit. If context is so important in these situations, then stop leaking everything. They're not even leaks anymore. All the stuff is posted to garner interest and conversation. A simple search on Google Trends tells a person all they need to know when it comes to interest for this game during dry times when there are no "leaks".

Pick your poison, Graham. Do you want context or something else? All arrows point to something else.

EA'S TONE DEAF TAKE ON 'TRANSPARENCY' AND WHAT THE SIMS COMMUNITY WANTS! (The Sims 4)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzfHUempTIU

SIM GURUS ARE FED UP!! 👀 (New Cryptic Tweet) - Graham tweet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKb4mccWoW4

I appreciate Maxis for add something interesting to keep the kit feeling fresh. The pergola, drink tray, fire pit, and waterfalls add a little something.

The Bistro kit is probably the most thematically consistent of the two, but feels at home with Dine Out.

I'm glad you're enjoying them. The only thing that comes to my mind is...

After 10 years of this game existing, these kits, and multiple other packs, are not content I would have given to builders. There's still an assorted amount of things that are flat out missing from the game that we should have gotten years ago as a builders. Like, I have to get creative to decorate a nautical bedroom, instead of having nautical bedroom stuff. It's wild.

God, I hate how smug and pretentious the SimGurus are. How dare we give genuine, constructive criticism.

('member when the Gurus of yesteryear actually cared about the fans and players? I 'member.)

I think game devs / producers in general develop God complexes over time. Not all of them, but many of them. When a person surrounds themselves with people that fawn over them for years, it is bound to happen. Now that there is considerably less yes-men, Graham doesn't like it. Oh well. Their game, their way.

The sims franchise belonged to Maxis back then. Now that Maxis no longer exists and they are EA employees, they have to sport their smug badges.

Speaking of God complexes...

Update your game or you won't be able to play.

EA IS FORCING SIMS 4 UPDATES!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fut4x6P19i0

I understand why people don't update all the time. It is exhausting having to update mods way more often then they should have to, updates bring more bugs, ect... From where I'm sitting, this is another check mark for the con list of live service games. A publisher can dictate these kinds of things and shut your game off if a player doesn't obey.

That would be a big NOPE for me, dawg.

https://x.com/EAHelp/status/1798069655661387832

For everyone, like myself, who plays offline with a lot of not updated mods, this is really bad news.

The tweet from EA says that if we don't update our game until the 10th of June, we can't play anymore as the EA app won't launch without the update.

In the past with the Sims 4 I was stressed because of all the bugs and decided to pause playing. But now we're really at a point where I have to stop playing because the game won't work at all anymore, if I decide not to update and lose all my progress.

Sorry, I haven't seen your post. I just posted the same. It's really a hassle when using many mods and now they make us to update. This is a PC game, EA just let us play the game we bought without any obligations!

No worries, himawara106

------------------------------

Apparently there is a argument about whether TS4 is a live service game or not. This was brought up in Satch's recent video. I'm not tossing Satch under the bus, but he's wrong.

Following is part of a article from Sims VIP back in 2016. The person defining whether TS4 is live service (or not) is Graham.



https://simsvip.com/2016/07/07/sims...vice-explained/

Satch video: Is The Sims 4 turning into a mobile game? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEs_3UzkFtI

Also, this play our way or hit the highway supposedly is a one-time thing. Players should take that with many grains of salt.

One time thing huh? The phrase that comes to mind when EA stresses they are being honest is "I don't believe you".

Don't care though.... my character has the "Brave" and "Storm chaser" traits ...... I fear no-one..

TS4 isn’t a mobile game, because… well, it’s not on mobile (TSM and TSFP are). That is not to say the Sims games have and are becoming more and more ‘pay this to unlock this content’. It started the moment TS3 had a built in store.

Also, the likewise thing I see happening is TS5/Project Rayray becoming a mobile game. I feel like loads of objects and clothing be locked in unless you use credit card transaction.

I guess this whole update thing was a issue on the OF. Whatshisface Cade said that it was a one-time thing. I can't be bothered to go looking for it and even if I found it, I couldn't post the link anyway as then I'd be crabbed at for 'mud-flinging.' The webs this community loves to weave.

Ironically this comes after Graham huffed and puffed about context. Perhaps he should go wag his finger at the intern that handles the TS4 twitter account as they provided zero context even though I don't think many believe in the one-time thing anyway. Also, they didn't explain what a player is supposed to do when the EA App is broken which is more often than not. I guess this means if the EA App doesn't work for a player by June 10th, they need to re-download their game.





No, TS4 isn't a mobile game. Satch went on a big thing about how TS4 isn't a live service game when in fact, it is which was the point of my previous post.

What if player don’t update? Then what?

I guess it will be something along the lines that the app will be updated so that it can only run version 1.107 of The Sims 4. (Current version.) So playing older version of game offline will not be an option. (This one-time only, allegedly.)

So TS4 will remain grayed-out and un-loadable for both online and offline play till updated to 1.07. (Or maybe 1.108 if they release new game patch to coincide with timing of EA app update.)

I haven't looked into why the app will only run latest version of TS4. But I'll guess at it being the graphical and memory enhancements that came with the 1.107 patch. For instance, the Ubisoft app gives options to run Anno 1800 game in whatever Direct X setup the player has/prefers. EA, on the other hand, remove the choice from the player, and since latest game patch allows better Direct X for TS4, they need the app and the game to be in sync if that Direct X choice will not be something the player can select prior to loading TS4. I could be very wrong on this, but other than this I can't imagine a need for the game and the app to be syncopated to the point of - our way or the highway - enforcement.

Robocop says, " citizen, step away from the vehicle and PATCH YOUR TS4! "

Trouble.....

Ha, no sooner said than I open the EA app to see TS4 requires yet another update! From 1.107.112 to 1.107.151.

That's gotta be the official patch version that the EA app will be expecting, otherwise no dice. No play whatsoever.

So much for not affecting mods (as I saw reported on the answers forum), mine crashed when I used MCCC within a few minutes of running .151


However, there is already an MCCC update for June 6th.

Now to see what else it broke......


Edit: Apology. It only said Mods wouldn't be turned off when restarting.

Part of this patch or whatever they're calling it was to fix the log in once a day, mobile game-like, bullshit thing they're doing. The exploit doesn't work anymore according to Iron Seagull. This doesn't matter for Mac and PC players as they can just download the stuff, but console players are going to have obey.

Another Patch?! No More Reward Exploits For Us!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypd0Hdsw6Ls

If videos from Erin Simmer are correct, there is plenty more of this kind crap coming. She is one of the few who pulls actual info from EA's quarterly fiscal reports which is nice. The stuff about EA and Andrew Wilson's mutterings starts at the 4:08 mark which talks about other ways to live in players pockets AKA Wilson is looking for lifetime revenue although I don't think he says that in this particular report. "Lifetime revenue" is typically a term used when gaming companies talk about whales.

Wilson doesn't get specific, but more using the community as a guinea pig is coming.

Controversial Limited Time "Rewards" (Sims 4 Update)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKvdDjIKkas

I'm anticipating the day when they tell us that we can't play the game - not if we do not update - but if we DO NOT PURCHASE ALL THE GPs, EPs, SPs, KITS, and everything else they put out for the game.

Opps.

Did I just give them an idea?

Sorry. My bad.

Well I can't even get the EA App to launch currently. Guess I ain't updating to this new must-be-version.
And now it keeps crashing when trying to update.
I guess all my CC will break now with this stupid DX11 update. Maybe Sims Studio has released a batch fix. Tho I'm not convinced.

It amazes me how The Sims 2 used to have players HOOKED for 5 years without any cheap gimmicks, just a good game. There was still more they could have added to 2 (as we saw later) but it did good.

The Sims 3 was much the same, albeit with the caveats, due to the open world. Still, it kept interest for a while.

4 needs bells, whistles, traps, gimmicks, frills, and it's never enough. They'll drop login event rewards to keep players interested, but WON'T GIVEN PLAYER AN ACTUAL ELEVATOR. It's been 10 years and players are still going back to 3. It's like they keep making messes on purpose, and keep trying to find ways to clean up the mess they're intentionally making.

It's like that robot that's designed to suck up its own leaking fluid. It eventually stopped working because it couldn't clean up fluid fast enough. Complete irony, because someone can just PATCH UP THE DAMN LEAK. EAxis is much the same.

Given EA's track record since Sims 4 came out, and for other non Sims games in their library, I wouldn't be surprised if it does come to that in the future.

This is not the same TS2 / TS3 Maxis. There are still a few gurus around from that time, but the few that remain have taken on other roles such as Lyndsay Person now being in upper management. It isn't about players have fun anymore. It's about money and aesthetically-pleasing pictures posted on Tumblr. EA will never say no to free advertising. Yes EA is a business, and yes, they have to make profit to keep the lights on. EA isn't happy with just making a mere profit though, they want all of the money.

As for a elevator, Maxis is free to prove me wrong, but I wouldn't count on it. It is much easier to have sims vanish into the abyss and appear somewhere else. Before somebody barks at me about how this happens in TS2 as well, I know. TS2 doesn't have a gazillion loading screens though which makes this disappearing act tolerable.

The irony of players going back to TS3 is how much time Maxis spent shitting on it when TS4 came out. With that comes thoughts about how much people complained about the TS3 store. TS3 is plug, play and mod out all the crap that causes TS3 to have brain farts. The TS3 store can be completely ignored and people can have a good time. I don't have a crystal ball, but I suspect there are far more invasive things coming for TS4. Mac and PC players can mod out the shopping cart, but it hasn't gone away...