Hi, I've been saving up my store points and am now considering purchasing a world. I like the look of Hidden Springs, Midnight Hollow and Sunlit Tides. I also love Italy so Monte Vista appeals to me, although I understand you cannot use points to get it. My question is are any of these worlds worth it (over venues and CAS store items) and if so which one do you think is the best? Which has the best content, attractive premade sims and importantly doesn't tend to lag too much?

I have Ambitions, Supernatural, Late Night, Generations, Pets and Seasons EPs. I also own Sims 4 although I have yet to really play it.
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I have Hidden Springs, and I'm happy with it. It's quite nice.. once you get past the bright yellow "blonde" hair colour most of the Vanderburgs have (a gene that will just not die). It has a very mountain-forest feel, which looks great with the snow that comes with Seasons, but will lag a bit solely because of how many trees they have crammed into this world. It's not bad once you turn either Tree Detail or Draw Distance down (I can't remember which).
Overall, it's very scenic, and it has a ton of lots to spread out. It's probably my most played-with world.

I actually like Midnight Hollow more than I thought I would. Even more that Roaring Heights, which is crazy because I adore the 20's. Midnight Hollow just has those little details that makes the game so much more awesome. When it loads I will take some pictures for you (but I just clicked play now, so it might take a while)

EDIT: Nevermind, here is a thread that has exactly what I wanted to show you. The mausoleum is really creepy with the bloody cross on it.

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/715768.page

The only think I hate is the coloring. It is really dark and that's cool but when you place a lot (like the horse training grounds) it's really bright. The walls you can recolor, but the grass is a bit more difficult. They didn't include the terrain paint in the download, so the darkest one is the one that came with supernatural, but it still isn't dark enough. Although, you might be able to find it somewhere.

I have all, Hidden Springs, Midnight Hollow and Sunlit Tides and I have to say Sunlit Tides is my favourite. Hidden Springs is beautiful, but the town area seems little unfinished to me. And yes, the lag is horrible. Midnight Hollow is also beautiful. I love the 19th century theme it has, but you are kinda stuck playing the dark theme, adding any colour will look kinda odd next to all the gray and black. Sunlit Tides is probably the best world EA has made in my option. It is lot bigger than I initially thought and some of the community lots, like the sauna lot is in a kinda odd place, but other than that it's well worth the money, and again in my option. I suggest disabling winter in that town, becouse it looks weird.

I really love the tropical feel to Sunlit Tides. Plus, after I got Island Paradise and the lag starting catching up, Sunlit was a nice alternative (besides custom worlds).

I was under the impression that the terrain paint was part of the final patch update? At least, I had it in my game.

I'm not sure. the only store world terrain paints I have are Hidden Springs, Monte Vista, Aurora Skies, and Lunar Lakes (even though I don't own it). Does it say Midnight Hollow on it?

In terms of content? Monte Vista, Lucky Palms "Gold" or Midnight Hollow "Gold". In terms of playability and design? None. They're all laggy with poor routing.

Actually, Lucky Palms was one of the better routing worlds they released. It's also one of my favorites, with a nice balance in size, and extra lots for expansion. The other world I would consider looking at which is not on your original list is Roaring Heights, which I think was one of the best worlds EA released, in design, execution, and extra content (if you like Art Deco, of course).

I have all Store worlds and I like them all for their own reasons. They all have their specific pros and they all have their specific flaws.
Hidden Springs is nice, I find it a bit boring, though, and the Store worlds that have their own custom lighting are usually the prettier ones. Riverview, Barnacle Bay and Hidden Springs are still with standard lighting, I think custom lighting started with Lunar Lakes.

The question is what your criteria are. If aesthetics is the only thing that matters to you then you should simply get the world that you find most appealing. They are all playable.

If there are other things to consider, like expandability, travel efficiency, pre-made population or packaged items then each world has its own specific set of advantages and disadvantages. Sunlit Tides, for example, can be irritating if you want to have things in one place and within quick access, because there is this huge expanse of water in its middle which means you are constantly routing in a wide circle around it.
And I wouldn't base my decision on the premium content that comes with most worlds. You won't miss that if you don't have it.

I like Midnight Hollow and Monte Vista. I played Hidden springs a lot.

Aurora Skies was kewl, but it was just too big and the game would eventually slow to a crawl.

Sadly, due to screwed up digital rights management and my fouled up hard drive, I had to reinstall my game, so I couldn't reinstall the worlds. I'm not going to buy them again, because I'm bitter and feel violated.

I have almost all the store worlds but haven't played them all. Off the top of my head, I love love LOVE the look and feel of Lucky Palms; coupled with the right lighting mod, it can look absurdly beautiful, especially at sunset. Even if it is my favorite color, it was nice to have a break from all the green (which almost all worlds seem to have). The graveyard looks amazing too, as seen here:



The most recent store world I played in was Dragon Valley. It looks nice and I like the medievalish atmosphere, especially due to how the rabbitholes are made.
I once played Hidden Springs for a bit but the radioactive grass was sadly too much for my eyes. A lighting mod can fix that somewhat, I think.

Out of all the store worlds, I don't think I'll ever get Barnacle Bay. It looks...boring. And who the hell designates a waterless lot as a fishing spot??

Well.. I have great sentiment for Riverview (oh I'm so unusual, lol) - even if it's outdated, poorly designed in a few (ok, more than "a few") points and have issues. And if it's not exactly a "store paid-world".

Midnight Hollow has its "climate", when I feel a bit depressive I load save with my mad, brooding, irrestible, great kisser and family oriented writer who's free will actions and breeding effect with the locals cheers me up

I played more of Lucky Palms than any of the other ones. It's just super nice with neat little features, like the wishing well thingy. I also really like the "boat" houses and just fishing off the pier early in the morning. :D

I have a huge thing for Aurora Skies, but that might just be me. I love the nature, the cute little downtown and the suburban feeling you get of it.

Otherwise, I'd say Sunlit Tides is the best Store world. There is nothing like it and it looks visually amazing and first time playing Sunlit Tides it feels like a mini expansion pack. It's a tropical paradise with lots of detailed cute rabbit holes and a lot of interesting and well done community lots to visit. I'd also say Lucky Palms and Roaring Heights are great buys. Keep in mind that these are just worlds, don't get your expectations too high up.

I strongly dislike Midnight Hollow. Everything feels so dark and depressing.

Of the worlds you mentioned, I have Hidden Springs, Sunlit Tides and Monte Vista. I love all of them, to be honest, and I never experienced lag in Hidden Springs. More so in Sunlit Tides, actually. But all of these worlds are really beautiful; I think it will depend on what you're looking for. I think Sunlit Tides might be my favourite, though - it's quite detailed and it's a gorgeous tropical island.
Roaring Heights and Lucky Palms are also truly amazing - you might want to check those out as well.

Lucky Palms or Roaring Heights.... Best EA made worlds hands down. Those are the only two worlds I keep downloaded in my game. I actually have all the store worlds, but those two have the best replay factor to me. Lucky Palms runs really smooth and there are many extra lots to build on or add custom built lots, and it's gorgeous. I really love all the earth tones in that world, very soothing to the eyes.

Roaring Heights is just awesome, I usually play gangster stories in that world with Twallan's Mobster career and assassination mod. I have a Al Capone sim and Lucky Luciano sim that I play that world with, carrying CC guns and being horrible womanizers lol. Al Capone killed the Clyde sim and impregnated Bonnie. The other worlds are just meh to me....I like worlds with some grit....

Aurora skies is pretty perfect in my opinion. Just turn the bar hangouts into late night bars and it's a pretty fun town. The snow looks horrible though, so make sure to turn it off lol