The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff: SimGuru Q&A

Simgurus are currently answering questions about the upcoming The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff Pack on twitter.

We’ll make sure to update this post as new tweets get posted!

Pets (yes, plural!) coming in #TheSims4 My First Pet Stuff:
✅ Hamsters
✅ Rats
✅ African Pygmy Hedgehogs
❎ Sonic the Hedgehog
✅ Bubalus

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Not seen in today’s #TheSims4 My First Pet Stuff trailer… the return of a certain highly contagious and deadly disease… 😷🤒🤮☠

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Rodents will not take up a household slot – feel free to place as many as you’re able to keep up with caring for.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Because of its dependency on The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs, we wanted to wait to show it until we could fully discuss it. I’ll be sharing details on how it works shortly here.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Same as with the rest of the stuff packs, this is a new pack for purchase.

— Aaron Houts (@SimGuruHouts) March 6, 2018

Everyone has their own opinions on which packs are worth it. Would you pay $10 for 2 hours of entertainment at a movie? Do you think you’ll get at least 2 hours of enjoyment out of this over all the time you own it? If yes, maybe it’s for you. If no, maybe it’s not for you. 🙂

— Aaron Houts (@SimGuruHouts) March 6, 2018

You’re going to see legalese for The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff that reads like this:

“Requires The Sims 4 game (sold separately) and all game updates to play. Requires The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs (sold separately) to access all content.”

…let me explain what that actually means.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff can be purchased and played by anyone who only has The Sims 4 base game. If you play it without having The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs installed, here’s a breakdown of how each portion of the pack works…

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

New Gameplay: If you play The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff without having The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs installed, you’ll be able to play with all of the new gameplay features that are coming with the pack.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

New Objects: If you play The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff without having The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs installed, you’ll be able to place all of the new objects in the pack. However, pet specific objects that are intended for cats and dogs will not have interactions on them.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

New Clothing: If you play The Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff without having The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs installed, you’ll be able to use all of the new clothing coming for Sims of all ages. You will not have access to the new outfits and accessories worn by cats and dogs.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Mostly correct. Like I mentioned, pet specific objects (cat condo, food bowl, litter box, etc) can be placed in your home, but they won’t have interactions unless Cats & Dogs is also installed.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

I appreciate that many people are feeling this way. The expansion team decided to focus on more depth for cats and dogs, and to include things that were brand new to the franchise such as Vets. They had to leave some past “pets” features behind to have time to try new things.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

The expansion team wanted to add brand new features in Cats & Dogs such as Vets, and to create pets that were more in-depth than anything we’d done in past games. We’re trying to bring people different twists on familiar content, which can mean different sets of features.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Functionally, that’s possible for Cats & Dogs content now. I don’t know what the future holds in terms of very specific cross pack content in other packs though.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Definitely – the hamster, its habitat, and all of the new gameplay features surrounding it don’t require having Cats & Dogs installed.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Sure – it's hard to break down everything in detail via tweets, but a high level overview is the four new pets, the secret lives they lead, the habitat they live in, the various interactions Sims have with them, the rodent disease that can be caught and spread, and the new death.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Each of the pets shares the same overall behavior, but there's a nice diversity to what they can do. Within their habitat they have their exercise wheel, tunnels, sand bath, bedroom, food dish, and of course their workshop where they do secret rodent stuff 😉

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

I'll be sold similarly as other Stuff Packs; owning other packs won't affect the price.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

The rodents won't get sick themselves, but there are some new Vet treats that you can feed them (and I should mention, you can get the treats without Cats & Dogs as well).

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

No, they aren't fully customizable like cats or dogs. You'll select which habitat you want from the build catalog, and you can purchase a new rodent should your existing one die or be released.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

We wanted to do a lot with the rodents… it has 4 different rodents, they lead their own secret lives, they have lots of interactive elements in their habitat, you care for and play with them, and there's a new contagious disease you can die from. Pretty packed for a Stuff Pack!

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

No, unfortunately not. When you set something for sale in a store, it disables all interactions on that thing… rodent or otherwise. We found that by allowing rodents to be sold, they would just slowly die and you couldn't care for them, so we disabled the ability to sell them.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

The habitat itself comes in a variety of colors, but they all have the same layout and components… exercise wheel, play tunnels, sand bath, bedroom, food dish, and a workshop for their secret lives 😉

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

No new fish in this pack, just a swanky fish tank coffee table that comes pre-stocked with fish 🙂

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 6, 2018

Sometimes that content is free, and sometimes it costs money. Stuff Packs in particular are each meant to appeal to different groups of players. We aren't expecting you to purchase every single one, but to try ones that look exciting to you from a broad selection.

— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018