Kids can paint in TS3, but I agree they should be able to play instruments in TS4.

These are my requirements for TS4 :
- Better routing.
- At least similar customization as TS3. So CAS (or a more efficient alternative) and a lot of freedom with building.

These are not exactly features, but will make any feature (I have a broad taste in these) more fun for me.

Mine:

- No gamebreaking glitches/bugs that make the game unplayable.
- Better genetics.

You said it best, I'll add more to my list

!5. Customizable rabbit hole system like (jynx or Margret's doors) or a better Rabbit hole functionality like an option auto pilot system/optional OFB system.
16. Better Routing/AI
17. Unlock all rewards offline instead having to go online (Remember the simport fiasco anyone!!?)
18 For the love of gravy, pretty please let the game be CC friendly/codeable and have the tools ready (Bodyshop and CAW) be available on the first day at launch!!

My deal breakers are:

-Story progression you can't turn off
-no babies/missing age groups
-fewer/shoddier interactions (TS3 really disappointed me in how few ways there were for sims to interact,)
-rabbit holes *everywhere* is a definite NO. Work and school, fine. But I want to be able to build all the rest of my town, and decorate it, and have my sims go there.
-massive catalogues that mean I'm going to spend 40 minutes just trying to find my way around before I can play. TS2 has massive catalogues as well, but they're so much easier to navigate and load then they are in TS3.
-Unmoddable. If it can't be modded, and cc can't be made for it, then forget it. There's no point for me. I like being able to cusomtise my game and my sims.
-store integration in the catalogue. If they do this, I'm going to be furious. I hated that in TS3- I mean I really REALLY hated that. DO NOT put items I have to pay for with real money in my damn catalogue. I don't want 'em, don't need 'em, and ain't gonna buy 'em. It just felt like my gaming experience wasn't mine somehow, it was all just a money driven profit scheme for EA- it was like having advertising in my game! I don't think so. They need to cut that crap out.

CasT at least for furnishings

Open World

That is all require. There is more I want, but this is all I need.

Seriously, it's hard to get absorbed into the game when you're aware of EA advertising paid products in your face. That's why I never got too far in Sims Social: the absorption factor (there's an actual term for this, but I don't remember what it is) is what keeps the game interesting long after you've gotten used to playing it.
It'd be like watching Breaking Bad and having Jesse Pinkman suddenly turn toward the camera and ask you to visit the AMC store and buy season 4 on DVD.

Please keep Heisenberg and his cohorts out of this discussion. Oh the horror!!!

Rather than viewing this as what would be a dealbreaker to buying into 4, how about what does EA need to show me to get me to buy 4? Why assume that just because I play 3, that I will automatically be a 4 customer?

How about EA actually selling me a game I can be excited to play? A game that builds on the good things that already exist in the franchise, and take it up to the next level in development? I mean, if EA really NEEDED to sell me this game, instead of assuming I'll buy in just because it's a Sims game, and it has a few features I might like, then we never would have seen a sneak peek launch like the "pre-alpha leak" at a venue as important as gamescon with less than a year left on the release clock..

So I have no dealbreakers. I have features in 3 that are important if I'm going to even consider trying out 4, like the open world and the ease of customization that a tool like CAST provides. I do not want to have to play an online component in this game, so no "unlocks" that require such participation. Otherwise, show me something that gets me excited for this game. Try SELLING me. And that doesn't mean spin. It means concrete, quantifiable measures that reflect what game play will be like in this new Sims universe, not concept art, or staged renderings of activities. I won't buy based on a commercial.

So really, the ball is back in EA's hands. Show me a game that advances this genre and I'll be at the head of the pack as an early adopter. But do not assume that if you give me a few items off some checklist that I'm an easy sale, and will put up with many of the shortcomings that occurred with the development and release of 3 and the its EP collection. Not again.

Just a small comment: $85, not $60-70.

Dear Mod The Sims, would you consider putting in a yesgasm button for posts that go beyond agree? Like eskie227s post?

• Good graphics. I don't need ultra-realism, but something above console level would be awesome.
• Genetics
• Open world
• CASt
• Pets and weather - we've been waiting long enough. And on that note, more original expansions with more content.
• A tool that makes creating our own CC easier.
• Complex sims that make storytelling more exciting.
• Lots and lots of hair and clothes!

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm more of a storyteller than anything else (:

ETA: OPEN COMMUNITY LOTS!

I just thought of another deal breaker. The online auction house platform that EA is working on? Yeah, I can imagine that requiring a persistent online connection. Do not want.

Burn it down and salt the earth.

Agreed! There are times when I really wonder who exactly they're marketing to. I couldn't tell if they were trying to show current Simmers that they'd improved emotions, OR if they were advertising a simpler moodletless interface to attract new players.That official trailer was a joke and did not sell this game to me in the least.The game more closely resembled the console iterations than something I'd expect to see for the PC.

CASt
Open neighborhood
Neighborhoods/worlds can be connected
Fleshed out personalities
Baby legs
Gardening
Full game that is able to be fully experienced offline and isn't unlocked by certain kinds or amounts of online play
Less rabbitholes and those that exist are customizable or even buildable with multiple entrances
Every lifestage has enriched gameplay, not just teens and up
Memories
Bella Goth
Quirky humor
Likes/Dislikes or Favorites/Least Favorites that are more than just colors, music, and food (things like movie/book/tv genres, weather, past-times/hobbies, sports, fashion, traits in other sims, etc)
Fears
Zodiacs
All life stages from previous game generations
Gameplay that is a step up and builds on the gameplay of previous games (the "all that and more" mentality) instead of progressing in one way but removing many things that enriched the gaming experience of previous games.

I'd need this to buy:

-- Stable game (no more memory leaks, I need to be able to play my game for more than 1 hour without it crashing, NO more crashes/errors while saving)
-- New and improved animations (not 95% of anims being recycled from TS2/3, more fluid animations, MORE animations)
-- Improved routing
-- Alternative object styles (by this I mean that there'd be more than just "American style" for objects, for example a postbox that isn't the "opens from the side with rounded top and a flag"-style.)
-- No more features that don't have a purpose or meaning after the meme of joke is no more funny/popular and are just annoying. (TS3 zombies. I like P&Z, but I already have a game for that)
-- No online requirement for anything. Seriously.

That's the short list for now, I feel like I forgot something but If I did I'll add it.

I'm adding to my deal-breaker comment (p.1 I think) - I just been hearing about this auction house idea where players might be able to sell their CC. I would consider that a major problem for me. Share stuff maybe (though considering how horrible much of the Exchange stuff for TS2 was, maybe not) but selling your stuff. Ugh. I said elsewhere - horrible and appalling. I really can't think of anything I would despise and hate more. I really can't get my head around why EAxis would even consider that.

Apart from the money-making aspect I can think of two ad-hoc possibilities:
1. Having a better control over the flow of cc enables you to get a better grasp on your target audience and so you can tailor everything the Store then offers better to what your customers want.
2. Already with TS3 EA is, for some reasons, very much interested in your creations. If I'm not mistaken you can only have a custom avatar picture at their site if you upload a Sim that comes with it. I've always found this a bit weird. A few days ago I bought a Store world and I still cannot get rid of the impression that I've played this world before. True, they're all quite generic anyway, but having similar families with similar background stories and sometimes identical names is a bit odd when the other world I played before was from the Exchange. And isn't it written in the EULA that everything created from within the Sims is EA property anyway?

They would probably get a percentage of the sales.

Anyway, important featurea for me would be:
- clear lightning, no more blindingly bright and shiny everything
- sims that look just as good in game as in CAS
- no more blurry textures
- businesses that allow for an integrated economy
- one way relationships
- no rabbit holes, and if they must include them they should be tiny boxes that can be easily included into buildings.
- no more routing issues
- sims can sit together for a meal at home or on dates
- open social interractions where you don't have to woo your sim wife for half an hour before you can kiss her

That's the main things

CASt
Open world
Better graphics(at least retexture games enviroment and sims,that they don't look so cartoony)
Sim likes/ dislikes system
At least all life stages like in ts3
Better genetics
Most jobs are't in rabbit holes
No routing issues
More interctions and activities for others age groups(toddlers,kids)

Some kind of CASt / colour pickers, what's the point in all the fancy new Sim sculpting tools if you dress everyone in the same "uniform"
Open world
Open restaurants
Fuller interactions ,gameplay options for kids,
CC friendly and no auction house I keep hearing rumours about

I have a feeling we're being herded towards purchasing CC from an official auction and no end of mess with fights and ugliness over who owns rights to CC creations if some sort of Sims player auction house is implemented
EA obviously wants to make as much money as possible from the game (naturally, it's a business) but encouraging custom content and making it more accessible and easy (eg Skyrim, Minecraft) is a good thing for them, more choice for each person to customize their game to their tastes means more longevity and I think more willingness to buy that new exp pack etc , not the reverse

This is something I wondered about because I don't know any other reason to allow selling creations. I also don't know how Diablo 3's auction house work since I've never played it. Do they exchange real money or will there be something like the simpoint system?

Sim points could be exchanged for real money, no? Also, you need to wonder, if people will be able to buy CC, how will the exchange work? So far people have been able to share stuff, on the official forums at least, quite freely, but if they implement an CC sale system does it mean that people won't be able to share stuff anymore?

I believe that I know the answer. If EA controls all CC and forces people to buy every single item, then they can take a cut of each and every sale. Possibly a large cut.

I believe that this is their goal: to ensure that they are paid for every item which is exchanged between two people.

Even if EA only makes 2 cents from each sale, think of the number of items that you've downloaded, and multiply by the number of people who use CC.

Must have in Base Game:
CASt
Full Build/Buy/CAS options of The Sims 3 plus extra (as seen so far for CAS)
At least one of the following in the Base game (Pets, Weather, Working Shops, No Rabbit Holes)
All age ranges from The SIms 3 at it's end (Baby, Toddler, Child, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, Elder)
Season of the year
Open Neighbourhood
Gay/Bi/Straight slider selection in CAS
Much better Genetics
Improved Graphics
Full 64 bit System support
Free Moddability
Free Custom Content support


What it must not have:
In game advertising (Simlish only!)
Needing an online connection to play (even for a second) as it precludes one from playing on trains/planes/on holiday.
Anything left out that is in The Sims 1, 2, or 3!

Needing Origin to play is a deal breaker, in the sense of needing to go online to be able to play as I need to be able to play on non-internet PC when on holiday!