For me it was cutting way too many features, pushing conformity to players in annoying way using "weirder stories" hashtag (as in, you´re LGBT = you´re weird, you´re over-weighted = you´re weird, you´re any other race than Caucasian = you´re weird, your hobbies are other than hanging in the bar or sweating in the gym = you´re weird...) and EA´s behavior towards its customers (like "we will sell you half-assed, buggy crap for price of an AAA game and we will continue to milk you in following years for every piece of shit that could be in base game, but we wanted more money and we know you´re going to give them to us anyway, so why try harder to make a good base game? + cancellations on Origin - people had to explain(!) why they want money back when their pre-order was cancelled after they were charged for it). And argumentation (I´m not aiming at anyone here, more at fangurlz and fanboyz attacking everyone for being a hater) like "this will be added later in EPs" is pissing me, because basically it means that you paid some bunch of money for unfinished crap, but you don´t have to worry, ´cause if you pay another buch of money, you´ll eventually get what you´re missing now. Seriously, where do they think money comes from? Sorry for this rant, I just had to get it off my chest. And sorry for my retarded caveman´s English...

Well, I didn't buy the game.
My money is waiting until terrain sculpting and split levels are brought back.

I was upset about CASt and open world - then kind of drifted back to thinking I would try it, but then when SGGraham said that you would have to 'woohoo' all the sims in the town if you wanted those families to continue, but couldn't come right out and say there was no SP, that was the end for me. I know they're just pixels but I'm not interested in breeding the whole town (granted it isn't much of a town), in fact I find it off-putting. Not much of a simulation in my opinion.
And then recently finding out that you can't opt out of data collection was the absolute limit. Yeah, let me pay EA real dollars, so they can monitor my game and whatever else - not gonna happen.

Acknowledging that EA's gonna rake us over the coals on EPs to make the base game better isn't necessarily an endorsement of the practice. It's just admitting what we know is true. Pools, seasons, pets, foundations, cars... probably toddlers and other stuff will eventually come to fruition. And we're gonna be charged out the nose for it. Statement of fact, even if it does piss everyone off. Just the way it is, and something you have to decide if you can accept or not. =( Doesn't mean you have to like it. Since the majority of the community is going to just grit their teeth and deal with it (and I cant necessarily blame them for that), it's really all it boils down to: will you or wont you tolerate it?

That's why i dont mind waiting for "Deluxe" versions. A lot of the things you expected to see in the base game will eventually be included in a Deluxe version, and the price will be way more reasonable. Instead of $80 for this base game, plus - what do you expect? $30? $45 EPs? (i'm not sure what they'll charge, if they're getting $80 for a base game that's got major omissions) When their "Double Deluxe" version comes out for $50 and includes the first two EPs and a SP or two... that's the time to pounce!

I got TS2 when Double Deluxe came out, and included NL and Celebrations... And i got it when they had their "Millionth Copy Sold" / buy 2, get 1 free offer. So i got DD for like $40 and bought Glamor Stuff off Amazon for $11. In total, I spent $51 and i got TS2, NL, Celebrations, Glamor and University (free shipping, THX Amazon!). I believe TS2 originally sold for $40 itself. The EPs started off at $30 and the SPs were $20. So like, $140 worth of games for $51... I didn't feel particularly "cheated".

In fact, i got ALL my EPs from the buy 2, get 1 free deal. Buy 2 SPs, new, off Amazon for $10ish. Send in the forms. Get an EP free. I didn't buy a single EP, and i have the whole series. Came out to $20 for 2 SPs and an EP. I probably wouldn't have even bought the SPs, otherwise.

i swear to god when i saw the flat world i about lost it. that is the foremost deal breaker. on top of that, the entire game is empty. there is absolutely NOTHING to do. the few lots there are....an absolute travesty.