Edit: Double post,sorry

I have roughly 300 mods right now. So no

I have a vanilla copy of Skyrim I've also got the Dragonborn DLC as the other two DLC's don't interest me and so far I love it.

I've been using less and less mods for each Bethesda game since Morrowind, and with Skyrim I only used the unofficial patches. Which suits me just fine

There are mods out there that improve the game, but largely leave the developer's vision intact. To compare Skyrin to a book...

Unofficial patches tidy up plot holes and missing pages.
SkyUI would be formatting the eBook version to hardcover or paperback editions.
High-res textures clean up the grammar and spelling.

These aren't necessary, but they polish the developer's vision for the PC platform, making it more accessible and catching what fell through the cracks.

Or are you insinuating that the Devs vision includes a crappy QA?

This

Who are you to say the backwards dragons and flying mammoths weren't deliberate?

ever wondered why people mod this game

it is NOT because it is a bad game , if it was they would not even play it

I said this before it is a great game

but if the developers give you the space and even the tools to mod this game , well you see what happenend with skyrim

i ve said this a few times before in other threads mods are optional nobody forces you to use them they are absolutely not needed to enjoy this otherwise great game

but what they do is bring this game to a even higher level both in looks and gameplay

you coud create a complete different atmosphere just by using a ENB or make this game so hard core that even EVEonline players will flee in terror

it is your choice and that is why people mod their skyrim and say it is even better than the vanilla because it is ifrom our point of view

So yes my heavily modded skyrim not only look better but also feels more genuin e than the vanilla version from my perspective

tea should indeed be dwithout milk or sugar but games are not tea any similarity is silly and stupid

Considering i'm a peasant 360 Skyrim player mods are of course not an option for me but i have enough fun as it is with vanilla skyrim so i couldn't really care less that i'm "missing out" tbh.

#Consoles 4 lyfe.

You live a sad and dreadful life.

Modded Skyrim is the best Skyrim.

Werewolves that actually howl, yes please. Oh and modded werewolves look scarier and look like real werewolves. And the fact that I now have werewolves wandering around Skyrim, like they should

Spellcraft, yes please

Interesting NPCs and better quest, yes please

The way developers intended Skyrim was to torture me with how bland and dry Vanilla Skyrim is

Without Mods, I would have never learned My Theory about Saadia was not the Truth! I would have never known the Courier Uniform was a Glitch caused by what made Me develop My Theory on Saadia.

Even though I employ 220 mods, I've left my Skyrim's core gameplay elements, largely and deliberately untouched -and I like it that way.

lets continue the list shall we

a civil war that actually is challeging and makes sense yes please

dragons that are truely terrorfying even at high levels and giving you a true challeging fight of epic proportions even if you are level 60 yes please

magical schools that are balanced and that doesn't make your fireballspells obsolete at level 35 yes please

pitch black dungons that are trully scary yes please

getting caught in a winterstorm and barely surviving the hypothermia yes please

bandits that actually block your attacks and team up yes please

companion and followers that level up with you and act intelligent yes please

and the list foes on

I think it's time we address a much more insidious problem: mod addiction.

When I first discovered TES mods (with Oblivion, probably around 6 years ago), it was a rush. My first mod was the Shadowrangers, which brought in new weapons, spells, and functionality for Oblivion. It was a heady time. But I needed more. I downloaded TIE (Tamriel Immersion Experience), my first overhaul, and then the floodgates opened: LAME (Less Annoying Magic Experience), Better Cities, Stealth Overhaul, Elsweyr: Deserts of Anequina, too many player homes to count, quest mods, weapon and armor mods, a plethora of gameplay tweaks and fixes... before long, I didn't even know who I was anymore! Late-night binges of trawling the Nexus looking for the perfect mod for that perfect playthrough; neverending updates and character re-starts... I wasn't playing, I was gorging.

When Skyrim came out, we played it for about a year before adding any mods. Then we added a few, but with a much more measured approach. I type before you a reformed mod-aholic. I can still enjoy a snifter of Interesting NPCs before bed, and savor a glass of Requiem every now and again, but gone are the days when my main focus was on the next mod I needed to have.

To prove your point you linked to a comic that basically says that vanilla Skyrim is crap.

Anyway, I play with mods. I played vanilla for first year or two, but Bethesda games, in my opinion, need mods, since devs don't finish their own work properly. Skyrim, or any other TES game, wouldn't be played half as long as they are if not for the mods, and anyone denying that is just silly.

That's funny. I am the opposite. I played Oblivion and Morrowind for years before modding these games. I still have not modded Skyrim. Not because I don't think it needs a slew of mods (it does, at least for me), but because of the methodical approach I take to modding.

When I mod a game I think long and hard about what I want to change and why. I research the various mod options for how to accomplish this. If there are several options, then I compare writeups and reviews to determine which I would prefer. I generally don't combine two mods that basically do the same types of things to cut down on compatibility and conflict issues.

Then I install the mods one by one, carefully play testing each one to make sure it is what I wanted and that it is working without issue.

Then once I have my load order of 100-200 esm/esp files plus a bunch of mesh/texture replacers, and assorted other types of mods, I start a new character and play. I pretty much leave the load order untouched at that point, except for occasional updates to the mods I am using. I will cull my load order if I find a conflict or stability problem I had not noticed upon first installing. I will add maybe one or two mods a year, if I am playing the game and feel the need to change something.

I use a great many mods but the approach I take is entirely different than the haphazard addicted approach you are describing.

Well, it was partly tongue-in-cheek. Could have been clearer on that, though. A lot of this thread seems to be about dumping on folks who prefer vanilla, so I thought it time to inject some gentle invective in the other direction.

I haven't read anything as epic as this in months.

Yeah, I suspected it might be tongue in cheek. When I said "that's funny," I meant it (as in I really thought your comments were amusing and funny). I could have been clearer on that myself.

My personal views on vanilla are that if you enjoy it, then that's how you should play. Nothing wrong about that. Everyone should mod the game to suit their own satisfaction.

The part I don't really agree with (or even understand) is the idea that modding a game in a way that makes it too unlike the vanilla version is somehow disrespectful to the developers. When I mod the Morrowind graphics, I try to keep it pretty similar to the original version, but its not because I don't want to disrespect the developers. It's because I genuinely like the vanilla graphics in Morrowind, but in 2014 I would prefer high resolution versions on my big HDTV.

When it comes to Skyrim, I don't like an awful lot of the game mechanics, so I would mod the heck out of that so that it functions very little like vanilla. But I don't see that as disrespecting the developer anymore than someone who wants to use Vurts trees or add grass to Morrowind.

I don't think anybody should refrain from using a mod because they are worried about "respecting the integrity of the developers intent". That's just silly. People should use mods or refrain from using them to make the game into what they want to play. For some, that may be vanilla or very close to it. For others that may be very far from vanilla.

It's marketed as a "do what you want game" and part of that is using the CK to make the game into what each indivdual player wants. Modding the heck out of it is just as respectful of developers intent (to create a "do what you want" game) as playing pure vanilla.

A common problem for people when they first come into contact with mods.

Still you got past it, most do.

As for this being a thread that dumps on people who prefer vanilla did you see the 1st post. Exact opposite.

No, you are not alone. With the exception of official patches, I play Skyrim in its pure form, the way it is intended to be, no mods. I like the feel of being spartan in a game. I am completely happy doing so.

I'm with you on this. When I first got skyrim, I got it for my 360. Played on 360 for about 2 years, around 1000 hours at least and loved it. Then i get it for PC, and I just don't want to mod it. I just like playing the game the way it's meant to be played. I'll admit though, i'll occasionally mess around with the ck and make a few custom mods (like nightingale armor with different enchantments for example)

Nah, the OP was pretty un-heated-ly asking a question and stating his own opinion without any aggression that I could tell.

Un-heated, perhaps but with an air of superiority about playing vanilla vs heavily modded. I found the OP and posts like TES Dovakin's above mildly offensive because of the statement that the game was "meant" to be played vanilla. I strongly disagree with that. It is a play the way you want game that was "meant" to be played the way each individual player wants, which for some is vanilla but for others is heavily modded.

I don't like it when vanilla players claim an air of superiority over modders by claiming that is the way the game is "meant" to be played.

I don't see anything wrong in the opening post...

Seriously, where's the insult?