I began my love affair with mods back during Sims2's run, and I use many mods today. Sure, it's a pain to make sure they're all updated, but it's much better playing with mods than without. I've never had a mod crash my game. But I have had the game crash because of coding errors in new packs and updates. Two thirds of my mods fix bugs the teams haven't gotten around to yet, and some of those bugs have been around for four years. Mods are necessities, not luxuries, and I would not be able to fully enjoy my game without them.