Largely, I don't use huge content-adding mods either unless they've got hugely good reviews to match: Julan, for instance, has a place in my game because he's so well-written that he just feels like he belongs. I also use Nevena's Twin Lamps and Slave Hunters, because it always bugged me to no end that I couldn't join the Twin Lamps... however, it is not a mod in which I've gotten terribly far. I also have Rise of House Telvanni (which I haven't played) and Uvirith's Legacy (which I haven't played in its entirety but I have played with one of its "component" mods). Other than that, nothing but bugfixes, game mechanic streamlining, and graphical upgrades... I consider clothing a subset of graphical upgrades. So you're not crazy! For me, even my chosen texture replacers have to be super-close to vanilla in order to satisfy. Even Connary has a couple that I don't use for being too far off. I'm SUPER picky.

My basic default MW installation has nearly 100 mods, most of them modifying Solstheim...so heck, NO!

Besides, some mods are just the opposite as "alien", as the OP says. I just can't imagine my Nord not being able to shout out http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=6549 (with custom sounds and effects) before combat anymore. A muted Nord warrior is like a castrati for me ^^

You can say that you don't like to play with mods, or that SOME mods look alien. But many (or even most) of them makes perfect sense, or (like in that case) http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Children_of_the_Sky that Bethesda left behind.

Yes! Filling terrible gaps is what I like to do with it. The gaps in question range from "I just want a pretty dress to wear" and "What the... why aren't bloatspores in the game" to "Man, being a vampire is boring as all get out" and "After all those BioWare games, Morrowind is getting kind of lonely." Either way, I feel like I'm just filling a gap, not changing things (even though any mod is technically a change).

My only option is currently vanilla. Although I do plan on getting the Collectors edition (just to have it) and the Goty for Christmas.
Then I shall mod to my little hearts content.
First thing on my list is no storage limit for containers!

No, you're not alone. I only play the Game of the Year Edition (used to have the original until GOTY came out of course). I honestly don't think I'm ready for mods, besides Bethesda's official plug-ins. Other than that, I feel like I must complete the game around every nook and cranny of the entire game by myself; no guides. I also hate cheating. I even consider recalling to a dungeons entrance in Daggerfall as cheating if I get stuck, but thats just me I guess. I'll start using mods whenever I've officially "beaten" Morrowind, I guess you could say. Then I will have some fun in the sandbox world of awesomeness. But it's gonna be a while before that happens.

The devs actually intended a good deal more. I interviewed them twice, once in mid development cycle (I'd set up a good rapport with an interview during ES2), and then after the game had reached beta. They spoke early on about adding a lot of things that never showed up--especially having guilds and houses more interactive, with semi-randomized plots and counterplots going back and forth as the Telvanni (for example) tried to undermine the Mage Guild, etc. But it proved far too big an undertaking, especially given the amount of resources required, and the level of RAM and CPU power then typically available for gameplay.

So you could say that vanilla-flavored Morrowind isn't how the devs intended it. They had pretty ambitious plans, for as the 20/80 rule has it, 20% of the things expanded to take up 80% of the time. I'm not suggesting you're wrong to go with vanilla or near-vanilla Morrowind as your flavor--go for it, everybody's right on this one--but make no mistake, more quests, player rewards for reaching the top of the guilds, and other things were intended by the devs.

I'm playing a lvl 66 Nord Warrior*, at 100 Difficulty, with his HP capped at 300 and a modded (custom) armor with 250 total Armor Rating when full equipped (Medium Armor), which is nice but far from the maximum you can reach in Vanilla game. My favourite sword is also from a mod, and it has 70 base damage at most (more than a Vanilla Daedric Dai-Katana, less than a Daedric Claymore), and definitely much less than a Vanilla Daedric Warhammer/Battle Axe (plus it was originally unenchanted, and I had to enchant it manually, and myself. Got lucky and succeeded at the 2nd try). Playing this is more difficult that you think, especially on Tribunal.

If you don't know how to reach balance it's your problem, but don't call mods "cheating".


*Actually he's a Warrior who has mastered Restoration/Mysticism/Alteration. It's more a "Mystic Warrior". That's why I was able to enchant my sword myself.

I enjoy playing Morrowind vanilla on the xbox and modded on the pc - the game holds up well enough in vanilla due to it's size and story - and when I'm playing it vanilla I find myself doing the story - however when i play my full-blown modded version with MGE, Vurt's grasses and trees and all the other replacers i use to make it look stunning - then I find I'm in tourist mode and interested in just enjoying the world for what it is.

I might consider I started playing without Mods - and maybe even didn't know that there were mods, my first morrowind experience wasn't very legal anyway ... :wink_smile: ... But since I notice the 'mods' I couldn't do it without it ... Specially mods to make Morrowind more alive and stuff ...

The annoyance trough is the fact I never played Morrowind out thanks to that and ofcourse many computer crashes later ... Currently I have a filthy disc who doesn't let me install the game .... But than by now Morrowind is only a few bucks over here ...

I always played vanilla, the game is just awsome! I don't even use better bodies or NPC replacer. I think mods ruin the athmosphere...

I play mostly vanilla, and I was very reluctant to even install a few minor mods, but I do have a few minor ones, in there. I love the game as it was created by Bethesda and I don't plan on using any major mods, but I'm happy with those few minor ones I have.

I never called mods cheating, I just hate cheating. Cheating in general, "starting off with max stats from the start of the game" cheating. lol :huh:

I like playing with some mods, I just don't like installing them because then I already know what they are and what they do to the game. Also installing mods to better roleplay is contradictory to me, because when I'm using the mods I can't forget it was me that installed on purpose to roleplay and then I can't roleplay.

If someone installed MW for me with a whole bunch of good mods I'd enjoy more playing with mods, but because it's me who installs them I don't enjoy as much, because there's nothing to discover, and I actually become addicted to installing mods intead of playing :banghead:

I just got Morrowind GOTY. Played the heck out've Oblivion last summer, some unmodded, but then mostly with a few mods added. Mostly I like mods that add a bit more 'realism,' like ones that make it necessary to sleep, eat, drink, and that sort of thing. Fancy graphics packs I don't need. New races, items, lore, etc., are also unnecessary for me. Some mods that add little funcationality to game mechanics, and which developers sometimes have no choice but to skip for various reasons, even if it obviously does improve game experience, are good for me though.

Any suggestions for me in my initial forays into Morrowind, either in terms of a few strategic mods or ways to approach the GOTY package (meaning things to do to avoid doing the DLC content packs too soon/too late)?

I know next to nothing about Morrowind except that (a) a lot of people say they think it was even better than Oblivion (less consumerized?); (B) it involves a Drow Elf kingdom; © the art/design is a bit more exotic looking than in Oblivion.

I use some mods, but not so much. Mostly more quests + story, in good quality and suiting Morrowind's original style and story (like Tamriel Rebuilt). I can't, however, bring myself to play with MGE. It kind of loses the feeling from vanilla for me.

I just limit myself to lore-friendly mods, its relatively easy to avoid 'un-morrowindy' mods. Hell, I can't even remember the vanilla chargen, I've been using Immersive Chargen too much.

visual packs, better heads, better bodies, better clothes, i cant play without these, i also like have the suran archery mod for the bows and quivers.

I use enhancement/fix mods, but on my laptop I'm not running any graphical mods, just because it can't handle it.

it took me a while, but i finally realized upon reinstalling a couple weeks ago that i don't need mods at all. the game's complete enough as it is. i forced max anisotropic filtering in my videocard control panel and i'm using MGE solely so i can set the resolution to 1600x900, but nothing else - just Morrowind, Tribunal and Bloodmoon.

i feel alone in that i've always vastly preferred the vanilla bodies and heads to Better Bodies and Better Heads.

Very nicely put.

I myself am rather lore purist, but I have no trouble useing certain mods that add on like great house dagoth, illuminated order, the vampire trios (realism hunger and embrace) and maybe hellhouse-x (because I love it some much work went into it from the creature)

that said I cant stand textures the differ to much from the originals or faces that are soley just for eye candy, I have only used better heads because of this (bh stays within the lore and doesnt make things too pretty),once westly head replacer is done I will use that instead, oh... and his master pack.

I install Morrowind, Tribunal, Bloodmoon, the downloads from the website and play. I've never considered installing a mod other than Bethesda's official stuff because as far as I can tell 99.9% of the stuff out there is just for eye candy or uber lewts.

From what I've seen, those kind of mods are more like 10% of the stuff you can find out there.
Just by curiosity, does that mean you also don't use the Code Patch or the Unofficial Patch?

there is plenty that is more, like tamriel rebuilt nom mce and siri ingrediants those add alot more depth to the game try looking around planet elder scrolls or mythic mods plenty of stuff that isnt eye candy

p.s I hate modes that are only for beautification

Correct. They have a lot of useful fixes for new players but I remember there are a few things about each package that I don't care for/don't use. A small example of this is the unarmored fix. While great for people who want to use that skill, I never do unless by accident or at low levels. Even my mages wear some sort of light armor and carry repair hammers.

Elderago I've been to TR's website, looked at the screenshots, and heard good things about it on almost every forum I can find that discusses TES. I can certainly see why a lot of people like it, some of the locations are visually stunning. If they ever finish it I will install it and try it out but a wip to me means "filled with bugs" so I'm holding off for now. Never heard of the others you mentioned but I will check them out.

It's not that I'm opposed to mod use or anything, I just haven't found anything I like yet. I'm notoriously picky about altering games I love. Maybe one of these days I'll fire up the CS and learn how to use it or something.