I agree with everything being said about the scenery and features (or lack thereof) associated with the last two DLCs. There's no denying that the scenery is useful but it's not particularly inspiring. I can look at pieces in both the Americas and Zookeeper pack and say "Y'know? I can see where this could be useful!" But it doesn't really push me to build those particular things.
For example: Some of the pieces in the Zookeeper pack would be awesome for anything related to special zoo events (e.g., a face-painting tent, booths for a Brew At The Zoo-style event, weddings and so on). But that's not an in-game function and would have to be implied. So while, yeah, building those things would be cool? It's not a priority. I need to want to build those things in the first place. The Americas DLC has a similar issue. The new wood pieces and the metal bits will undoubtedly be useful. But I won't know when until the time arrives. They don't push me to build anything new or different.
In contrast, when you take the animal roster along with the scenery items and update features? It was super inspiring. "Here's some barnyard animals, some barnyard scenery, and a new feature to make building for these animals different!"
And I don't think this needs to be earth-shattering to be accomplished either. It's been repeated ad nauseum, but making some of the base game and early DLC pieces flexicolor would be huge. Think about how common it is to see builds with the Indonesian brick set. That's one wall set... If they were to make the sandstone and basic brick pieces flexi it would increase their usefulness and really encourage building with them. Little things like adding more decals (e.g., water a la PC2, grass, flexi leaf clutter and so on) could inspire with just a few pieces!
For example: Some of the pieces in the Zookeeper pack would be awesome for anything related to special zoo events (e.g., a face-painting tent, booths for a Brew At The Zoo-style event, weddings and so on). But that's not an in-game function and would have to be implied. So while, yeah, building those things would be cool? It's not a priority. I need to want to build those things in the first place. The Americas DLC has a similar issue. The new wood pieces and the metal bits will undoubtedly be useful. But I won't know when until the time arrives. They don't push me to build anything new or different.
In contrast, when you take the animal roster along with the scenery items and update features? It was super inspiring. "Here's some barnyard animals, some barnyard scenery, and a new feature to make building for these animals different!"
And I don't think this needs to be earth-shattering to be accomplished either. It's been repeated ad nauseum, but making some of the base game and early DLC pieces flexicolor would be huge. Think about how common it is to see builds with the Indonesian brick set. That's one wall set... If they were to make the sandstone and basic brick pieces flexi it would increase their usefulness and really encourage building with them. Little things like adding more decals (e.g., water a la PC2, grass, flexi leaf clutter and so on) could inspire with just a few pieces!
