Kits, are they worth it?

[Neodarkside]

I've been away from the Sims for awhile, just getting back into it. Spent a day updating mods and making sure things work properly. I bought the last 2 packs, Paranormal and the new Vacation one with skiing. I'm curious about the Kits. Mostly they just look like stuff packs from Sims 2, just random things like new kitchen things etc. Curious about the Dust one.

 

From what I see, it adds the need to dust and clean up a bit or it makes the place dirty. Is this an always active feature once purchased, or can it be disabled? I liked the idea behind things like this, like Laundry day, however implemented was a pain, washers and dryers failed or broke every 2nd load and was more of a pain than anything that added meaning to the game. So what are your thoughts on them?

[endersgame]

Idea is sound, execution is terrible. 

 

The dust build up way too quickly (yes, even with the new patch), and takes up a lot of your time. Sims also autonomously vacuum far too much. The idle animations gets old really fast because your sims do this weird smell animation every time they change floors (this is what pass for 'checking the dust level' because Maxis loves their recycled animations). 

 

The idea of dust bunnies and filth fiends are kind of stupid, but then I prefer my supernatural elements to be less in my face.

 

Also, the kit is overpowered (in the context of a Sims game). A clean house gives you +2 Inspire, vacuum activity gives +2 Focus. These buffs are kind of ridiculous. Oh, and the dust bunnies are basically living ATMs because once you befriend one of them (yes, befriending a dust bunny), they will shower you with money. I think I earned something like 20K in 2 days just by having the bunnies search for valuables.  Then one of them brought back a Salvadoran treasure that sold for something like 10K+ and I decided I was done.

 

If you buy this pack, I strongly urge you to grab some tweak mods (LittleMsSam, Zero, or Lotharihoe). 

 

[Neodarkside]

24 minutes ago, endersgame said:

Idea is sound, execution is terrible.

 

 

Sounds like exactly what I was afraid of. The idea sounds ok, but if thats the case, Probably going to end up skipping it. I like the idea of cleaning, one of my favorite things is old abandoned locations. Got 3 or 4 in my world, abandoned house, 2 motels, and a gas station. Its fun to make it fairly rundown and then add a few homeless sims and try to turn it around. Couple of them work and they look fairly nice now. I liked the idea of dust build up and maintenance. I play with the, Grody, or Filthy trait, whatever makes surfaces and things get dirty fast, I should look into if they have the apartment trait that adds mice, roaches, and leaking plumbing as a mod sometime. Anyways If it was maybe a trait or something that can be turned on or off I'd be happy, but the buffs sound over the top. I'll do more research before buying it, a few packs unfortunately added things I absolutely hated (Parenthood ruined teens, least now theres a mod that totally disables teen traits, don't mind the mood swings but the random ones like Mean Streak etc, I disliked)

[snowdog04]

Also, currently the Dust kit has completely broken gardening.  Plants grow to maturity, emit green stink fog, and revert to dormant/just planted, and you can't harvest anything.

[Neodarkside]

Holy shit, yeeeeah. Skipping this one. EA takes waaaaay to long to make patches for things they break. Sucks relying on the community to make one in a day. Like the horrible NAP bugs from the Eco expansion.

 

[porkybork]

Fuck no they're trash lol.

[arliel]

I don't have any of them, but they all look kind of stupid to me... lol
And although it is not a kit, same applies to Laundry Day. Some of the stuff is nice, but the machines break down too fast, and just simply doing laundry can take a long time.
The cleaning ones are a nice idea for real life simulation, for those who enjoy it, but they're just not made very well.

[Neodarkside]

The laundry day one I kinda like, I liked the idea of a housewife/husband who stays home and takes care of the house and laundry is a chore that needs to be done. How fast these damn things break is absolutely insane tho. Its like every 2 loads, and its annoying when they don't pair up. I'd get a pristine but soaked load from the washer and then break the dryer which ruins the load of laundry. I looked awhile back and there doesn't seem to be many fixes for it, I'd even settle for unbreakable machines. I'd much preferred multiple, a low end, mid range, and high end of both. Low end, breaks like normal, mid range maybe 5+, and high end being expensive but rarely breaks.

[Oops19]

For the washing machines just go back 100 years and use the washtub and 2-3 lines. The lines may still break.

This keeps the sims really busy and is nice to watch.

[venus67]

In my opinion, Country Kitchen is nice, but not worth it to buy. I mean, I have CC that's similar to it so what's the point?  It's not worth 5 USD for anything.  Dusting and the 90s look, hell no. Hard pass. 

[arliel]

On 4/16/2021 at 10:59 PM, Oops19 said:

For the washing machines just go back 100 years and use the washtub and 2-3 lines. The lines may still break.

This keeps the sims really busy and is nice to watch.

I had a sim who lived off-grid and actually had this setup for her. I honestly enjoy the tub and clothesline more than the machines. Also found it a bit neat that you could add various flowers to scent the laundry.

[Neodarkside]

On 4/19/2021 at 2:42 AM, arliel said:

I had a sim who lived off-grid and actually had this setup for her. I honestly enjoy the tub and clothesline more than the machines. Also found it a bit neat that you could add various flowers to scent the laundry.

 

I have a few places that use the tub and line, also I do believe they finally fixed the washer and dryer issues (or I have a mod somewhere I forgot about). Last I played back prior to October, they both broke every 2 loads, and always always on different cycles. Pristine from the washer, broken Dryer.

[arliel]

32 minutes ago, Neodarkside said:

they both broke every 2 loads, and always always on different cycles. Pristine from the washer, broken Dryer.

Sounds rough.... I just got tired of all that. I like most everything else about the pack other than that. (I use a lot of laundry items in builds at times.) When I had a household of 5, I felt like they were doing clothes ALL the time. Then I played another, richer household, and just let the butler do it all. ?

As for the vacuum one, kind of a neat idea that befriending the dust bunnies has its perks, but I feel like gaining income and such might be too easy now (unless one likes that). But then sims will vacuum weird places (like when they were mopping rain puddles outside). I've seen screenshots of sims cleaning in odd places. Or not being able to reach a pile at all.

 

I found this person with some negative points on reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Sims4/comments/lwf7g7/so_i_already_despise_the_bust_the_dust_kit/ They mention that disabling the pack will only turn of the effects, and not the build-up, although they also gave a link to a tool that'll disable packs.
However..... according to March 23 patch notes (above complaint was from earlier last month), they fixed that. Though of course I don't know how well as I do not have the kit.

"Bust the Dust

We retrained our adorable yet filthy Dust Bunnies to not appear quite so often. We also made some tweaks to the dust situation and we hope now that it doesn’t accumulate as frequently as it has."

So that being said, I guess it's just up to the individual to decide how much they really want it and what they're willing to overlook, if there are still some issues. For me, they are $7 each, so I don't find much worth right now. Not for what's available. If they were to ever go on sale like the packs, then maybe, just because. (Yes, I'm cheap... lol)

[Oops19]

A 50% sale would increase the number of beta testers for sure. Dust is not really needed. It's it bad enough to have it IRL?

[jyotai]

On 4/23/2021 at 1:35 PM, Oops19 said:

A 50% sale would increase the number of beta testers for sure. Dust is not really needed. It's it bad enough to have it IRL?

 

I bought it because the idea of the dust bunnies seemed absolutely adorable. That said, I've yet to see them show up anywhere in my game - so they must have really toned down their frequency in the latest patch.

 

It seems like the best buy is the country kitchen - opposite of what would seem intuitive - just because it doesn't do anything... But it also looks to have about the content of 2-3 free downloads on "The Sims Resource".

[Neodarkside]

I've looked at the Kitchen and the Exercise kits. They are basically just stuff packs and yeah, content doesn't add much that you could download off TSR or MTS's sites. I'll buy expansions and game packs because I also want them to continue making stuff for Sims 4 before it ultimately goes on to Sims 5. As much as I dislike the parent company, I love the game. I'm also the one who is willing to buy packs on release day as well. Over time yes, I've spent a ungodly amount on this game, buuuut look at my played time. 1755 hours so far. To me its worth it. I mostly favor packs that add new worlds and/or fun gameplay. So far only avoided 2, Dust and Star Wars. Honestly would have skipped Parenthood too but, too late for that one.

[jyotai]

Yeah 1755 hours. Makes the cost worth it.

 

It's still probably been cheaper than a sub to an MMO - for which one is ALSO buying expansions...

 

[Highstreetsimboy]

The Only Kits I Have Brought Is The CAS Ones & The Last Few Are Really Good. In My Opion The CAS Ones Are Worth The Money Has The Latests Ones Go Well With Base Game & Other Packs Too 

[MrGrey]

No. Only reason to buy most of the kits is that they have content that might be in the online sims gallery.

I just clicked that off so kit content isn't included and haven't had the problem of naked sims missing clothing with my downloaded sims.

I like using other peoples content because they're so creative!

[andelanazim99]

I definitely regret buying country kitchen. Most useless thing ever. 

[MrGrey]

I bought Bust the Dust.

the need to turn down dust accumulation by 6 dB. It's as bad as toddlers; have one of these installed and your sim may as well quit their career. all they going to do is dusting or take care of toddlers.