I disagree with the fact that modding can be an annoyance, because you find more often than not crappy mods.
Lets take the Paradox serie of game, starting with Europa Universalis, ending with Heart of Iron. There is only a few mods available, which asks for much work from several fans. If you are a bit serious, before trying a mod, you goes to the modding forum, and at least browse what is here. For exemple in HoI there is mainly 2 mods, which are Nighty Road to war, and Steel CORE mod. Within some minutes you should know which one fit you the best (I prefer Core btw!).
Or goes to the SE IV forum, to speak a bit about a Shrapnel game
. You'll find plenty of mod, AST, Proportion Mod, TDM mod, etc. This is really easy to get the one which will please you. For the content, reading a readme, or browsing the forum is sufficient. For the quality, browse again the forum, and you will rapidly see if the fans talk happily of the mod.
So ... the ones which are saying that mods are a pain in the rear because you always get crappy things ought to be a bit more involved in a the fan's community of the game they are playing, and they will soon knows how the game evolves, and by whom.
my 0.02 euros.