Couple of comments without quoting everybody:
Not updating - the only way to avoid this is to be sure you disconnect your computer from the internet before launching Origin (simple toggling of the wifi button to airplane mode on a laptop). The second it sees there is a TS4 update, you are forced to update or cannot play it.
QA and TS4 - I'll be the first to shake an angry fist at EA and I have many times; however, it's nearly impossible for them to be able to foresee everything that can happen. There are so many variables at play here. Things like the computer, the content, the save set up. The fact that a guru jumped right on here and commented so quickly? I'm happy and hoping that this will be fixed in an emergency repair.
Patch breaking 3rd party mods/content - that's not really the fault of EA. They specifically state when you enable mods that they do not support them. It's annoying that mods break so much but that's a risk we take when we use them.
I'll be building till then because I cannot play this game without my clubs.