There is no menu in The Sims 2 for picking a Lifetime Want, but you can reroll it: buy the ReNuYuSenso Orb from the Aspiration Rewards panel, use it on a Sim whose aspiration bar is Gold or Platinum, and choose a different primary aspiration. The Sim then draws a new Lifetime Want from the pool for that aspiration. The orb came with Nightlife, so it is in the Legacy Collection and the older Ultimate Collection by default. This guide covers when Lifetime Wants are assigned, exactly how the orb works and what it costs, the FreeTime rules that changed what fulfilling one gives you, and the mod route for players who want to choose a specific want rather than roll for one.
What a Lifetime Want is and when you get one
The Lifetime Want arrived with the University expansion, so every current copy of the game has it. It is a single long-term goal shown when you hover over the aspiration bar: reach the top of a career, have six grandchildren, WooHoo with twenty Sims, and so on. Toddlers and children do not have one. A teen receives a Lifetime Want when they grow up and choose an aspiration, and player documentation notes it is not actually rolled until the Sim fulfils any ordinary want, or until you save, leave to the neighborhood and reload the lot. That gap matters, because it is the one moment the game is still deciding.
The 2025 version of this guide said only adults and elders have a Lifetime Want. That is wrong: teens have one from the day they age up, which is why University-bound teens often carry a college-flavoured want.
Fulfilling a Lifetime Want pays out a large lump of aspiration and influence points and the Sim immediately rolls a new one. Without FreeTime, completing one also made the aspiration bar permanently Platinum. With FreeTime installed, which the Legacy Collection always has, the first completed Lifetime Want instead feeds the Lifetime Aspiration meter, maxes the bar and makes it decay very slowly; permanent Platinum comes from filling that meter. In practice many players report perma-Platinum still triggers, so treat the difference as a footnote rather than a reason to avoid FreeTime.
Method 1: the ReNuYuSenso Orb
The orb is an Aspiration Reward from Nightlife, bought from the rewards panel for aspiration points; player documentation puts the price at 6,250. It has five uses, shown as green lights on the front, and it does two things: change the Sim’s primary aspiration, and change their turn-ons and turn-offs. The Lifetime Want follows the aspiration. Change a Romance Sim to Family and the game throws out the Romance want and assigns a random Family one.
Steps:
- Get the Sim’s aspiration bar to Gold or Platinum. Using the orb below Gold can fail, and the failure sets the Sim’s aspiration to Grilled Cheese, whose only wants are about eating and serving grilled cheese sandwiches.
- Open the Aspiration Rewards panel, buy the ReNuYuSenso Orb and place it.
- Click it, choose the new primary aspiration and confirm.
- Check the new Lifetime Want by hovering over the aspiration bar. If you dislike it, you can use the orb again (another use, and the Sim’s bar needs to be back at Gold first).
Two limits. You cannot keep the same aspiration and reroll only the want: choosing the aspiration the Sim already has does nothing and does not consume a use. And you cannot pick the want itself; it is random within the new aspiration’s pool.
With FreeTime installed, the orb gains a second option that resets the Sim’s secondary aspiration and their aspiration benefit points without touching the primary aspiration. That does not change the Lifetime Want, but it is the tool for reclaiming benefit points a retired Sim sank into the Work category.
Method 2: work the secondary aspiration
FreeTime’s secondary aspiration does not replace the Lifetime Want on its own. What it does, per player documentation, is widen the pool: once a Sim has a secondary aspiration, their next Lifetime Want (after they complete the current one, or after an orb reroll) can come from either aspiration. A Family Sim with Romance as a secondary might go from “graduate three children” to “WooHoo with twenty Sims”. If you assign the secondary aspiration before the first Lifetime Want has been rolled (that window we mentioned above), the very first want can already come from the secondary pool. Free, but you only steer the odds.
Method 3: mods that let you pick
If you want to choose a specific want, that needs a mod. The Sim Blender and the InSimenator are the two long-standing community tools that add a “set Lifetime Want” style menu directly to a Sim, and the Legacy Collection runs the same mod framework as the original game, so the well-known ones still work; EA’s own support page says mod capability is unchanged but unsupported. Install them the standard way (our guide on how to install mods in The Sims 2 covers the Downloads folder and the Legacy Collection’s changed save path), and save before using any of them.
The 2025 text also mentioned “debug mode rerolls” through testing cheats. Our Sims 2 cheats guide covers the Shift-click debug menu, and it does let you change a Sim’s aspiration directly, which rerolls the want the same way the orb does. It does not add a want picker in the unmodded game, so anyone promising a cheat that “sets” a Lifetime Want is describing a mod.
Whatever route you take, the want is worth chasing: the payout is huge and, with the money and career wants in particular, it pairs well with the shortcuts in our Sims 2 money cheats guide. For the rest of the game’s systems, start at the Sims guides hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I change a Lifetime Want without changing aspiration? Not in the unmodded game. The ReNuYuSenso Orb only rerolls the want as a side effect of changing the primary aspiration; picking the same aspiration does nothing.
How much does the ReNuYuSenso Orb cost? It is an Aspiration Reward from Nightlife, listed at 6,250 aspiration points in player documentation, with five uses per orb.
What happens if I use the orb at a low aspiration level? Below Gold it can fail, and a failed use turns the Sim’s aspiration into Grilled Cheese. Fill the bar first.
Do I need an expansion for this? The Lifetime Want itself needs University and the orb needs Nightlife. The Legacy Collection and the Ultimate Collection both include every expansion, so both have everything.
Does a Sim get a new Lifetime Want after finishing one? Yes, immediately, and with FreeTime installed the replacement can come from the Sim’s secondary aspiration as well as their primary one.