Everyone plays this game different ways. Why you have people that are just builders and don't really care for gameplay or even CAS and just like building all sorts of different things. Or you have people that just like to make sims, dress them up and take pictures and still not engage in gameplay. No real right or wrong way to play for sure, just do whatever is fun for ya, you know?
I played S4 vanilla for a long time, since I didn't get back into CC since S2 and S3 (mostly due to how poorly it ran with too much and me being unorganized as well too.) I enjoyed it, but as time went on and more modders got more skilled in making unique mods and easy to use ones I go interested in gravitating towards it. Was mostly CC first, but only what was Maxis Match to continue to match the original aesthetic of the game.
Anything else made it uncanny unless you look the change the WHOLE surroundings to make it not stand out so much, but it's all just personal choice.
MC command center been life changing along with the UI mod. Helps more in tuning certain things in the game. Like I like having skills build a lot slower since I feel they're all to o quick same with relationships. Don't use a lot of big mods outside of those.
Some I've done myself for personal use for little things or found other modders that made said little things I downloaded.
Mods and CC are just a nice way to expand more on ones gameplay and enjoyment. Same with paid DLC TBH. Can't imagine not having one or two DLC for S4 if you like the game less it's something financial related or something else, but it expands more for the game.
The Sims as a whole franchise on PC was pretty much built for having to buy DLC to enhance even more on the experience.
