Something has been bothering me lately. The Sims 4 is a new game. It will of course have new expansion packs. However, I'm sure we all still expect EA to release the same old EPs that they released in the last 3 games such as Pets, Seasons, University, etc.

How do you think that will go this time around? For some, like Pets, it'll be their FOURTH rendition of the same idea. And for others such as Seasons and University, it'll be their third time.

Don't get me wrong, because I want these EPs coming out for TS4 too, because it just wouldn't feel right without them - but is there really much more we can expect from these EP repeats that they haven't already done for it?

For the EPs you expect them to repeat, what do you think they could bring new to the table this time around?

Well I expect to see Pets, Seasons, Apartment Life, University, and hopefully a better version of Open for Business, cause TS3 screwed that up. And probably something vacation-related.

From survey screenshots I've seen, it seems like they've been thinking about doing a wizard-school EP. It seems like a pretty cool idea and everything, but I can't help but be iffy about how that idea might play out. Like, can they learn spells and potions? Could they ride their broomsticks to school? Would I be able to control what my sim actually does in class for how to use those spells and how to make potions, or would it just be a rabbit hole with not even any event popups? What would their school look like, and would The developers try and actually make it look like some type of magic school?

I also saw something about rollercoasters/carnivals and waterparks, which got the Rollercoaster Tycoon fanatic in me excited. Man I would friggin' love to give my Sims some sweet rides to play on, especially when they go on dates, but I have a feeling something like that may not sit well with the rest of the community.

Thinking about the new stuff they might do with the EPs and SPs gets me really excited, but I don't wanna get my hopes up too much.

To be overpriced... not much else to be honest.

After the game's release, I expect EA to squeeze out an EP from its tight anus every three months for half the effort, double the price and 30% of each pack sold as DLC. And the OP is definitely right about those recycled themes. Same shit, different game.

EP should stand for excretion pack from now on.

I expect them to cost $49.99, not $39.99. I'm sure some business dude at EA is asking, "Hey, is there any reason these EP things can't cost as much as a whole game?"

Actually, I expect TS4 to have less of an emphasis on EPs and a much greater emphasis on Store content, aka, DLC. That seems to be the direction the whole industry is heading.

I expect to see all the old favourites like Pets, Seasons and Vacations turned into multiple EPs. Pets 1 will introduce cats and dogs, Pets 2 will add some farm animals. Seasons 1 will give us weather, Seasons 2 gardening and maybe some extreme weather. Vacations 1 will add beaches, Vacations 2, winter holidays. And I expect them to not work properly with each other.

Seasons should have emotion weather - weather that makes sims feel a certain way or want to do certain things. Rainy days have a 70% chance to make sims want to listen to or play sad music, isolate, be less active / more couch potato, make sad art, brood like batman with his black gothic cape and his black gothic mask and his gothic music. Angry storms could trigger a case of the mondays in hot-headed sims or make a usually good-natured sim irritable and want to drink bacardi gold. They may get a hankerin to watch a gory horror show, called The Hankerin starring Tom Hanks. Full moon can especially inspire sims to do things they wouldn't normally do according to their personality, or maybe things that no sims can do UNLESS there is a full moon. Things like, oh I don't know, GET MARRIED to a person they've only dated once or twice. Rainbows give general rainbow-y feelings and moodlets, excluding sims that prefer to be miserable. Aurora borealis nights make sims want to look up / read / watch supernatural based material and do it outdoors. And etcetera.

Or worse...maybe we'll get:

The Sims 4: Cats (not the musical)
The Sims 4: Doggy Style (with werewolves and kinky hair)
The Sims 4: Fish N' Chips (without restaurants)
The Sims 4: Ride 'Em, Cowboy! (with horses and the NEW-not-really mechanical bull)
The Sims 4: Speshul Snowlfaek (winter EP for an even YOUNGER target audience)
The Sims 4: Spring Cleaning (NEW-not-really maid NPC and spring season)
The Sims 4: Summer (swimming pools are back!)
The Sims 4: Fall (farming and vampires are back)
The Sims 4: Business as Usual (businesses are back AND half-assed)
The Sims 4: Miley Cyrus T&A (Tongue and Ass)
The Sims 4: Miley Cyrus Special Edition (with extra twerk)
The Sims 4: Up All Night (dating with another set of vampires and werewolves for no apparent reason)
The Sims 4: Going Green (more recycled shit that should have been in other EPs and the base game)
The Sims 4: Frat Party (more Bro-centric shit and oh, hot tubs are back!)
The Sims 4: Taking Care of Business (more shit that should have been in the half-assed business EP plus NEW toilets!)
The Sims 4: Supernatural Celebrity Vacations (final EP lacking a cohesive theme and packed with shit that could have been in other EPs and the base game)

And 60% of half-assed content that could have been in the base game and EPs sold as DLC.

I'd like to see an improved version of open for business.

It would be neat to see a "time traveler" expansion. You could go to the future ( which has been done) or you could go to the past...

Bite your tongue. EA is incompetent enough as it is. You'd rather have the developers work on another ITF pack instead of working out the kinks of the base game and other more important EPs?

I don't want pets to get their own expansion pack this time round. Just shove them in with another expansion. Nor do I want them to be controllable. I liked how they were is TS1&2 to be honest.

I'd like to see a uni expansion back but this time round I want to have a choice of different universities. I hate that we could only have 1 in TS3 nor could we add custom ones without a shitload of problems.

I want Apartments back, in the style of TS2 though, personally I think this should be a base game feature though.

Apartments, seasons, pets and dating should all be base game features at this point. It's the fourth Sims game.

Can't disagree with that.

Is dating not going to be a base game feature? I thought I heard that it was- unless it was speculation. If not then that's just shameful.

It might be, but we haven't seen nightclubs and restaurants yet. They did mention the woohoo skill and one-night stands, though.

I wouldn't be surprised if they eliminate EPs altogether and just sell "mini-EPs" in the Store. If they're really thinking of doing a pool party set, for example, the game might be even more compartmentalized than ever. Then again, by throwing some kind of content in the pack that a player wants, they may end up selling more content than they otherwise would. I hate to admit this, but I bought that last EP just for the outhouse.

To go along with this idea, I think it's possible that they will stop offering disks at some point in the middle of TS4's run. As far as I can tell they still want everyone to use Origin. What better time to do it than after everyone starts to invest themselves in the game?.

Oh, I am soooo suspicious, aren't i? LOL

We haven't seen anything yet.

Restaurants and nightclubs are just another example of what we should have in the base game now.

I suspect (and hope) they include apartments in the base game because I think it makes the most sense anyway. Same goes with dating and going out to restaurants and clubs (aka Hot Date/Nightlife/Late Night).

Maybe this time around they can combine Pets and Seasons and make a Nature Lover's EP or something? But knowing EA, they'll probably want to stay away from combining too many EP aspects into one, as they would make more money separating everything.

I like what was said about the weather effecting the sims' emotions.

Maybe "Pets" will give us farm animals this time around, so we can have a fully-functional farm with crops and animals.

I'm not sure what else EA can do with University. I suppose have more campus choices like in TS2? I like having variety.

What about Supernaturals? In TS2, they added a supernatural sim in almost every EP, and in TS3 they dedicated a whole EP to the supernatural. I think maybe they'll go with the subtle approach and add supernaturals the Sims 2 way with every EP if it fits well.

Tongue bitten........

The more I think about the idea of "miniEPs", the more I wonder if they really will happen, considering that survey separated a weather EP from a weather disaster EP.

If they combined EP and Store teams, we might get better content overall, because presumably they'd hire the right, qualified people to do it. It would also allow for better customized games to suit all play styles. It would also allow the teams to more narrowly focus and could potentially give us more in-depth gameplay.

It wouldn't be a bad idea at all, IMO, IF the prices were reasonable. And that is a mighty big IF.

I wish EA would release more, smaller expansions. I'm tried of paying $39.99 for an entire damn expansion when I only care about one or two features from it...

I get why you'd want that, JackieSmith, but I have to worry that things would end up being less integrated than they already are. Each "mini" expansion pack would fail to address the content of the others (much the way TS3's expansion packs do for the most part). In short, I fear it would be a mess.

Hey, Xzibit, can you and your MTV show just modify my car just a little bit? I really just need the engine fixed and some new tires.

So gonna happen

I expect the basics (Pets, Seasons, University, etc.) although I prefer all those concepts in the base game (hahaha)

What I really want (I can't really say expect) is for EA to focus on EPs that add more realism to the game, like the farming EP I mentioned in another thread. Don't tell me people won't like it. Do you see how much money people waste on Farmville??? Maybe an EP like Ambitions that allows self employment and interactive jobs (although why can't that be base game as well?) Don't get me wrong, I love my Makin Magic/Supernatural EPs but can't they just get the realistic, non-occult related EPs out of the way first THEN get add the weird crap?

Really, I don't know what to expect. This is EA we're talking about. They like to fuck with us on multiple levels.

If they do it that way, I would expect more in-depth gameplay and more integration with other parts of the game. If they don't do that this time, and TS4 ends up a disorganized, disjointed mess like TS3, I'm saying bye-bye to any more Sims games.

Not everyone reacts the same way to weather- i for one find rain to be pleasant, and angry storms me much more bubbly and good-natured. Besides, having every sim show the same extreme emotional reaction to the same weather patterns could get old very quickly, and enough things are supposed to affect their emotions already. What if a weather EP and something like freetime were bundled together? That way we could have real seasonal activities, not the crappy holidays we got last time.