I don't use mods or cc. I had mc command for a couple days, but didn't like how it made decisions for me. For example to change the last name when sims get married. Also, it was really complicated to fully turn off all story progression...it wasn't worth the hassle for me. I actually enjoy the game like this and it is REALLY stable. It never crashed and up until this week I played on a computer that was below the minimum requirements and was a laptop.
However, the downsite is that I have to deal with whatever EA decides, which can be a challenge sometimes.