World Adventures: First Impressions

[Metropolis Man]

I'm creating a new Sticky for many of us who will be taking delivery of the new expansion soon. I thought this would be a nice, organized way for players who have had a chance to dive into the new content to express their feelings — good and bad — about World Adventures. Let's keep this thread focused on new World Adventures stuff only and not questions/comments regarding the vanilla game. 

[Saltypaws]

I can't say I am impressed as of yet.  I have already lost two families.  There is a saving issue that I am not quite sure of, can't even get on Sims3 forums.  Would probably get lost anyway.  I will say, the graphics are wonderful, but I can't afford to lose anymore families right now.  This is the first time I have really had any problems with any of the games.

[Metropolis Man]

So far I'm liking the expansion. I'm still in the dark as to whether or not I need the 1.5/1.6 update or if all that content is already rolled into the expansion. I'm off to bed in a little bit. If anyone knows the answer to that let me know.

My photographer got some basic skills in Sunset Valley (fishing/cooking) for 3 days and then called on her cell phone for a trip to Egypt. I immediately went to the bulletin board right in the Egypt base camp to tackle the first opportunity. I think it's called the Tomb of Discovery. I completed that Quest which led to another Quest. My photographer was exhausted, so I put her to bed and I'll tackle the 2nd Quest tomorrow. I'll have to remember to take more pictures and work on the photography skill in tandem with the questing so I do double duty. I've only had her take one shot. The questing is great for old seasoned role playing gamers like me.

[Pam]

I cant say I am impressed as of yet, I have already lost two families, there is a saving issue that I am not quite sure of, cant even get on Sims3 forums, would probably get lost anyway, I will say, the graphics are wonderful, but I cant afford to lose anymore families right now.  This is the first time I have really had any problems with any of the games.

What do you mean you "lost two families?" 

[Pam]

I've visited France and China so far, and I must say World Adventures is absolutely delightful!  I'm having some graphics issues, but it's the fault of my computer and not the game.  I'll be ordering a new graphics card in the very near future.

The Expansion Pack flows smoothly with the vanilla Sims 3 game.  I was very happy to find that I can play any of my existing families and not have to create new Sims.  My Legacy family was the first to go on vacation because I'm sentimental like that.  I took all five of them and it was a bit too much to control, so four of them went home early.  Now I'm just going to take one at a time for awhile.  It'll be good because each Sim in a family has specialities.  The cook will enjoy trying new foods and buying recipes, while the fisherman will love testing new fishing spots and catching new types of fish.  There's really a little of everything.

It's familiar enough that I don't feel like I'm learning a brand new game from the beginning, but there are plenty of new things that make it surprising and funny.  The expressions on my Sim's face while she tried to learn how to sing a song were priceless!  As was pausing to scratch her bottom while clearing rubble in a tomb. 

I'm very pleased and having a great time!

[Metropolis Man]

I can't say I am impressed as of yet.  I have already lost two families.  There is a saving issue that I am not quite sure of...

I'm 99% certain that all of the tech problems players are experiencing with World Adventures are due to installing the patch and then installing the expansion. I know Pam did it this way. I wrote down a handful of the new features from the long patch list in the link I provided yesterday as to things I should look for in the expansion — they're all there and I never patched. The reason I'm not getting an Update notice at the Launcher is because the game obviously does not feel I need a patch. So, I think the thing to do is forget about the patch and just install the expansion on top of vanilla.

[Saltypaws]

I agree Pam, it is wonderdul, but the error on saving has resulted in the loss of two families.  I went to The Sims 3 site and everyone else has the same problem, so I uninstalled the game and installed again and did not put the patch in and so far so good.  So at this point, I assume it is the patch, until it happens again and maybe it wont, but I do love the game and the game is smooth and runs well, so will just have to be on the watch. 

[Metropolis Man]

So at this point, I assume it is the patch...

Unquestionably. Think about it. EA releases this enormous patch the same day as World Adventures. Why would they do that? Why would you need both? That patch is clearly intended for players who were not installing World Adventures. The problem is we had to come to this conclusion ourselves. There should be a notice right by the Update button — "Do not update if you will be installing World Adventures."

[Honeymooners]

OK so here is the start of my loves and dislikes- I am not posting any spoilers
Loves :
You can cancel the newspaper
the adventures themselves are a blast! I agree I love the RPG aspect combined with the sim aspect. 
New modlets, lifetime wishes , and traits
LOVE LOVE LOVE the new happiness rewards! 
Love new clothes and objects!
There are just so many layers to this EP and it came out at the perfect time just when bg was starting to get a little stale

dislikes- just one so far
 not much for the kids to do on adventures

Bring on the challenges!

[Metropolis Man]

Has anyone noticed that their food goes bad in the fridge too quickly since installing the expansion? I made some sushi around 5pm, put it in the 2nd tier fridge, and by 6am green clouds were coming out of the fridge.

[Pam]

Has anyone noticed that their food goes bad in the fridge too quickly since installing the expansion? I made some sushi around 5pm, put it in the 2nd tier fridge, and by 6am green clouds were coming out of the fridge.

Yes!  And I hate it!  I've got the most expensive fridge and leftovers go bad within a day or two.  I haven't decided if it's a glitch or a fluke or if they really mean for it to be this way.

Metro - We need to start having individual topics for things like this so they can be easily seen by others instead of all piling up into a generic World Adventures thread.  If you'd help me spread the word and split topics, I'd appreciate it!

[Metropolis Man]

Yes!  And I hate it!  I've got the most expensive fridge and leftovers go bad within a day or two.  I haven't decided if it's a glitch or a fluke or if they really mean for it to be this way.

Let's pray it's a glitch. It's obviously not a fluke if both you and I are experiencing the same thing. It's awful. I count on that god meal bonus for breakfast and my photo tourney character is sometimes eating a breakfast that goes bad while he's eating it from when he cook it the night before. That's ridiculous.

Metro - We need to start having individual topics for things like this so they can be easily seen by others instead of all piling up into a generic World Adventures thread.  If you'd help me spread the word and split topics, I'd appreciate it!

There's plusses and minuses to both approaches, but whatever you would prefer, Pam, I aim to please.

[RCHaynes]

Do the folks here have any 'pull' or presence or what have you with EA dev/support to get bugs noticed or investigated?
Can we nominate someone to be loud and boisterous on the 'official' boards?

I'd also make this suggestion to keep these under control (shamelessly ripped off from other games that get buggy releases, and patch fixes)
A sticky for World Adventures Issues
Locked and modded first post that lists the bugs

• food placed in refrigerators spoils faster than intended _11/17/09

then later it can become

• food placed in refrigerators spoils faster than intended _11/17/09^{patch 1.8}

And folks reply to have a 'bug' added to the modded Master list. Once the mod adds it to the master, delete the post in the interests of keeping it clean, short and to the point.
Just a thought, to try and keep forums, topics and threads under control. Yes, it's administrivia in the worst sense.... but it can escalate FAST if not wrassled into submission early. The 'fix' list for 1.6 was 5 pages long....

[Metropolis Man]

Do the folks here have any 'pull' or presence or what have you with EA dev/support to get bugs noticed or investigated?
Can we nominate someone to be loud and boisterous on the 'official' boards?

Honestly, I don't know if it matters, RC. The official EA forums probably get 10 times the traffic as Carl's site and I'd be REALLY surprised if many people had not already complained about the food thing. Those of the forums that the EA developers look at. And at least for me, I try and steer clear of those forums.

[RCHaynes]

But I can't see the EA forums at work....
I only ask because of past experience with some games giving credence to some fan-sites as a source of good data from people committed to playing and having fun with the game without resorting to the "OMG! they broke the game!!" posts that have no detail. Things like EQ Traders for Everquest come to mind... one of their mods ended up as a developer for EQ.
I guess I was mostly asking if this was a private gripe session that any one official would ever see or not. Seems Not.
I shall bring some of my rant-&-rave there. I'm assuming they have some kind of a bug submission interface??

The second part of my post was just a thought. This may be too small to warrant that kind of Technical board/topic/forum. I liked this one best of the fan sites because it's so comprehensive and well written. It just might be easier in the long run to have 1 dedicated place to put bugs/issues.

Otherwise back on topic! Having fun in WA. I created an Athletic/Adventurous/Disciplined/Friendly/<something> to approach vacationing in China and pursuing Martial Arts. I'd have to confirm with a non-Athletic roll practicing Martial Arts and a non-Disciplined one playing out Professional Sports, but they don't seem to enhance each other, directly anyway. Playing with the Adventures given by the Adventure board or from the locals is fun, and the little dungeon crawls are a blast! I've not found much on the 'special' merchant in China I want. Doing the little random excavations and buying relics is giving me a fun little hobby as well.
It seems to have introduced a few unwanted and undersirable side effects, but overall I'm enjoying the new content a lot.