^ Then you'll have the ones coming out of the woodwork to mention tHiS Is WhY LifEStaTeS NeEd DEdiCatED PaCKs sO tHey cAn FlEsH tHem oUt MOrE.

And Realm of Magic has proved that is most certainly not inherently true. Vampires are honestly the best life state in TS4 because they actually put some damn effort into it. Not that hard EA. Oh I forgot, apparently it is.

I'm wondering if they might expand on a season with this one, they already expanded on Winter, leaves Spring and Fall little too do.

Realm of magic should have done exactly what Vampire’s did. Vampires was perfect because it let you build a vampire. Realm of Magic flopped because they forced you to be a specific kind of spellcaster... no...

Similarly, Get Famous Let’s you be any kind of celebrity you want. People like that part of the pack. Realm of Magic appears to have missed the boat lol

This is exactly what I am hoping for the new pack. Crops, tractors, horses, countryside farm where sims can live on acres!

Realm of Magic's problem is that it allows you to become the Everything™ Spellcaster- there's nothing that allows you to specialize in one of the three schools, or makes you strategize with trade-offs (which at least Vampires and Celebrities had).

The second issue is that it plain up lacked spells or any cross-EP compatibility, and the majority of spells were just boring reheated Scientist gadget mechanisms from Get to Work. I mean, there's no unique or whimsical spells like in Makin' Magic like the ones with the gnomes and flamingos, or Supernatural with the frog heads- and why do modders have to create their own weather spells???

In the end, spamming enough interactions, you can end up creating super-magicians in all your sims with all the few spells and perks unlocked. It's frankly shallow and even bad game design, and a big decline from the earlier Vampires game design.

IMO, if they lacked the resources to properly make this pack, I would have preferred that they cut out the Magical Realm (mostly useless with the one lot) and dedicated the resources into putting some real negative quirks and additional spells into the game.

The real problem here is that packs don't automatically become better sticking to one design or the other. Many people said that that Supernatural in TS3 was shallow because it contained too many lifestates in one pack and as a result none felt particularly unique. But then we have TS4, that has split up its lifestates between packs and they still don't feel unique or noteworthy except for Vampires.

If EA were smart, they'd realize that it's all about how you tackle a concept. ROM could've done something unique like spellcasters and fairies, both magical, and it would make sense as a concept - call it something fitting of both. Instead of the gimmick behind the magic realm, because that's all it is. Spellcasters are lacking because they're an afterthought in their own pack. EA wanted people to go nuts over being able to go to the "cool magic realm" and emphasized what you could do there, instead of being a very small addition to the pack that it should've been.

It's horribly planned and has multiple problems. Off the top of my head:

1) Sims 3 has a fill needs potion you get at about level 6 iirc, and it has decent requirements to make. Sims 4 pushes the fill needs potion to THE FIRST POTION YOU GET and it needs a damned apple to make, which you can buy. You legit have what's perhaps the most useful part of the pack immediately and everything after pales in comparison, plus any semblance of challenge is just gone.

2) There's a spell (or whatever it was) to clone potions. This again removes any challenge in collecting ingredients for potions since you always get a free sample for every single one and you can just keep it and clone it. You can legit play the pack without ever making a single potion and still have a healthy supply.

3) The spells honestly suck ass. I remember there was one where I expected it would instantly grow your plant to mature, just like one that existed in Sims 3. Instead, it grew very specific plants exclusive to that pack....which you legit never need because you can clone all potions and those new plants only have use for the new potions. Or the cleaning spell required you to individually target each dirty plate and cast it, to the point cleaning them the traditional way could be faster. Why there's no cleaning spell like in Sims 3 where it instantly removes all objects marked as dirty stuff or cleans any dirty furniture is probably just another case of the crappy engine or the team having no idea what they're doing

4) As you said, no balance. You get every spell and power and no downsides. Dunno how this is suddenly rocket science to them despite Vampires and Get Famous being popular for utilizing that concept. I think SimGuruEmory was responsible for those and apparently when he quits the team, the rest of the team's brains explode and they're incapable of following his example or something.

HOLD UP HOLD UP HOLD UP HOLD UP

Lemme get this straight:

Some random modder, by happenstance, happened to release his farm-themed mod at the same exact time Sims 4 announced their farm-themed Expansion pack, and now it's going to be stupidly easy to compare and contrast what the entire Sims Team accomplished vs. what one random modder accomplished?

Arnie has been working on his farm mod for awhile; long before Maxis decided to make whatever it is they came up with.

I know they are not teasing minor pets...

Backyard Stuff, Cats & Dogs, and My First Pet Stuff would like a word.

Thank you so much

Video trailer says 6 months. Hell, sounds like he developed it faster than Maxis and would've begun after them, unless I'm missing something?

I have no idea when Maxis started this new EP; we're not privy to that information. He probably did start after them, but unless he knows something that the rest of us don't ( not likely) I don't think Arnie was intentionally trying to 'compete'.

Tomorrow the Maxis trailer comes out. We'll know then if this is actually a farming EP, a vacation thing or something else entirely.

Apparently, based on the preview, it was something that was :difficult" and "unrealistic," but something we all wanted.

Clearly, babies that aren't chained to a bassinet. Clearly.

Those birds don't even count. That's like calling a fish in the pond is a minor pet. Those are npc (if hardly, more like animation asset) "animal" that isn't even Sim like.

You leave my precious winged rats alone.

Does anyone like me think that the sale of the new GP is not what Maxis expect, so they have to sell the new EP as soon as possible?

Maybe, but it probably has more to do with the fact that EA just rolled into their first fiscal quarter for 2022 in April, so Maxis is trying to make themselves look good by shoving as much stuff out the door that they can before the end of July.

What is strange is the lack of leaks this time around. It seemed like for the past few packs there were leaks everywhere; not this time around. I'm not willing to put money on it but since there has been zero leaks for this EP, me thinks all the others that have happened recently were intentional.

Reminder: Trailer for Sims 4 "countryside" expansion pack comes out 8 a.m. PT on June 10. and can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSims

I looked at the postcard. I don't see anything "farm-themed" in it. I see a pseudo-English countryside, though. It reminds me of the Old Miller tea time set from the Sims 3 store. It also reminds me of Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Boo-kayyy), and her candlelight suppers. If this pack isn't farm-related, there is going to be gnashing of teeth all around.

And I bet the windows frames are still sitting right at the outside of the wall instead of being recessed back a bit like in traditional English houses. I think the big surprise is going to be cars.

I want a spiral staircase.

A cute wooden one...
A cute iron one...
A cute modern one...
A cute stone one...

If we get cars and we don’t get one we can fix up so they can sell it later, I’ll be very upset.

If cars is the surprise, I'd be shocked if we can use them outside of the new neighborhood. There, I said it.

They said it was something difficult and unrealistic. Farms are nice, but not unrealistic. One can easily build a farm of sorts with the Sims 3 store.