Like, what would you have taken out or added to the game to make it better?

It's not necessarily what I would've taken out of the game, it's what should've been fixed for me. Buggy open worlds, slow CASt, and glitchy toddlers being fixed would make the Sims 3 more playable.

I would also add preteens because realism and new interactions would've been pretty cool.

i would just take out the things that i don't like, like imaginary friends and stuff. the only thing i could think to add would be the preteen lifestage.

A better physics model, so that actions like using the swings would be more realistic and ideally (since you did use the word "perfect"), hair would move under gravity and a Sim's motion.

First thing that pops on my mind, is search bar. It would be significantly improvement (for me).

Routing that worked.

Generational play. Proper career system. A little bit of drama like in TS2 (one sided loves, beter affairs... not whole town needs to know you are in affair). Better optimization of the game (textures are loading way too slowly, game is freezing even on high-end machines and even mods don't help), beter animations and facial structure of the sims (even the eyes are a bit creepy). A lot of things are wrong with this game. And those who believe that adding a new lifestages to the game would be interesting... yes if done properly. But it would just be boring to see so many realism in the game that already have plenty of it. The Sims is not an realistic game. It is trying to mimic realistical behaviours of individuals and put them in awkward and funny situations and it is a life simulation. But it's even more than that. It is our tool to create worlds and fill those worlds with stuff that aren't usually happening in real life. And I don't mean "weirder stories" and "exceptional sims" but weirder or greater outcomes. Remember how TS2 made us enjoy great life moments of our sims and how it let us down when some of our sims went crazy or get cheated on. That's what The Sims is! And I miss it in recent games. TS3 (and maybe even TS4) is not the sims game by my standards, not at all. A lot has to be done to fix TS3!

No lagging and stuttering would be great.

More baby/toddler interactions. I miss the little things, like being able to clean the high chairs and actual skilling.
Also OFB but that's obvs.

If it would have been basically TS2 with an open world, story progression and better graphics I would have been satisfied.

I pretty much agree with this. Even though I don't use SP, if they had only taken TS2 and upgraded it with a logical SP, an open world and the better graphics, I would have been perfectly happy. Instead, they took everything that made TS2 work, removed it in favor of completely illogical systems, threw in the open world, SP & CASt, and called it TS3.

A perfect TS3 would have been TS2 systems (attraction, chemistry, turn-ons/offs, uneven relationships, genetics, fears), open restaurants & stores, car animations (no teleporting onto any vehicle, thank you), better routing, better personality (TS2's point system with traits added to make the sims even more interesting), buyable phones and clothes, TS2's awareness of other sims (chatting when sitting or eating at a table, or turning to watch other sims pass by), TS2's interactions for toddlers and children, the logical OFB system (one cash register to sell anything), and no stupid necessary stuff being sold in the store (greenhouse and changing table).

Give me all that with more diverse-looking sim faces (TS2 or 4), and the gardening, recipe, skills systems & professions (ie gardening and fishing) of TS3 and that would have been perfect. Argh.

Better routing! Yes yes yes! I liked the Turn-offs/Turn Ons system from TS2, even if it was a bit strange sometimes. (ie: Billy is attracted to stinky women wearing hats.) It would also be nice if Sims talked more when they ate. However I am glad they removed the TS2 car animations (it used to take forever to get going), and I think if a Sim was standing in the way they'd have to wait even longer.

I think the Sims could use some sort of crime and punishment for robbery, or battery and assault. I know Criminals sometimes get arrested at work, but at other times you can beat up a Police Officer and steal his car without any legal repercussions. I also think it's weird that Sims don't have any sort of organized religion. I'm not religious myself, but it seems like virtual people based on humans should have some sort of spiritual worship. .. well I guess they can meditate with World Adventures, but is that it? I also wish there was a way to block out CAS items you don't like, so you don't have to load them up everytime.

They needed to flesh out the rabbitholes. Preferably like what they did with SIMs Medieval, where they added a brief story, albeit you'll have to read a bit, when your SIM goes into a rabbithole.

I wish there were more interactions with Toddlers and Babies (although I don't miss the dirty diapers and baby bottles everywhere). I wish the damn changing table hadn't been premium content. I wish the restaurants weren't rabbitholes and the table/sitting interactions were still there. Remember Sims proposing at the dinner table? Cute as hell. I also miss the cutscenes that played during big moments (births, first kisses, I don't know what else). Like other people have said, it was much easier to create drama in TS3, what with one-sided relationships and affairs and whatnot.

I also wish there was more humor in the game. There were a lot of little, silly things in TS2 that were lacking in TS3. It seems to me that TS3 takes itself more seriously and is somehow safer and blander.

overfeed the baby...youll be cleaning the highchair then...

I want an interaction that tells my cat/dog to hunt continuously, operating in much the same way as telling a sim to play chess continuously. The only thing my cat does for 12 hours is hunt - I shouldn't have to click 60 times a day for that, I should be able to tell him to start and when needs interrupt I can start paying attention again.

There's a lot of things that I would keep inside the game, I don't mind Imaginary friend really, helps to keep an partner in the future for an non legacy child. I like WA if it wasn't so buggy (With that major bug that once you return from WA, there's a chance the savefile becomes unplayable).

What would I remove?
Force interactions (NO Sims breaking up with their partner, or Accuse of Cheating, especially the A-holes who accuse their spouse of cheating, when they are the dirtbag who slept with someone's wife, or accusing a poor widow who lost her husband, of cheating. That is messed up. The only way I know how to stop this, is to use the testingcheats and lower the bladder of the spouse who goes to accuse, he or she ends up wetting themselves and forgetting the interaction.

Forcing Teens to go home, stay in the corner, unable to stop being scolded. I am the freaking God of this Simworld thank you, I want to say if my sims get arrested or not. And it's even worse when they make the understanding, or trusting the kid and knowing they are only fishing at 11am or standing right on the sidewalk, to scold them. Ruins that Sim for me).

Redo the entire celebrity system, I am sorry but a playground monitor is not going to become a celebrity just for interacting with a celebrity. Make it only if you are in the Flim, Politics, Music, Althetic etc careers, something would actually make you well know make you a celebrity. Also remove the limited interactions with them, they don't need to gain a star by talking to them, but if I have a actor who loves the people and would interact with everyone, I do NOT want them being dicks to whoever attempts to talk to him.

Yeah I have a major problem with this whole forced thing, I rather have it completely free and I decide what happens (Teens slapping their parents and running out, or escaping the cops, or the idiot who accuses the widow of cheating to be screamed at by the widow and forced to suffer).

Open world would stay, I like that idea, less rabbit holes though. Just so many things that could make Sims 3 perfect really, even combining Sims 2 and Sims 3 together (Bring back hangouts, chats at the tables, the Sims actually sitting in the living room and talking, instead of getting up five seconds later and leaving. Sims 2 I used to make the families all sit in the living room and just chat together, now they can't even stay sitting).

Even more interactions with pets (Including birds, they seem to be still treated like objects, excuse me but I do not bury my dead birds in the trash, I bury them like all pets). I like the horses being around so that was cool.

I found resetting the sim that's about to make the accusation helpful.

Take away the code that makes Sims 3 crash without rhyme or reason. I'd also add some disabilities like deafness, blindness, needing things like wheelchairs and the like, and cerebral palsy. Including the kind Gerry Jewel has. 'Cause the best part about being drunk is, you can have cerebral palsy and nobody would know.

Something I have not seen mentioned is a way to build more floors/stories. I would also like the "Rabbit Holes" to be replaced with Shells for workplaces and open, playable shops and restaurants.

--Ocram

Shells would be quite nice. I'd also like create-a-pet for budgies and cockatiels.

A fix for the constant freezing and crashing, a more interactions! I miss being able to swing your kid around in the yard, and I miss tickling, and red hands, and I want little kids to be able to interact with babies, and more interactions with toddlers. Kids can't even order at the Business as Usual Bistro. No more rabbit holes, especially. I also wish ghost Sims weren't exactly like regular Sims except see-through and slower. It's stupid that a ghost has to shower.

A game engine that wasn't broke.

Seeing how a few things I'd want was already listed, I miss TS2 style memories.
The TS3 version was just extensive clutter.

Agreed, hardcore. Do you use a memory mod? I use this one, which also helps keep your savefile from getting so bloated because the townies aren't constantly generating a ton of stupid memories.