Well, while it's certainly remarkable that amateur modders can achieve what they did with those mods, but if you compare them with proper games then yes I'd say the quality is in general mediocre. You can't compare an adaptation with a cohesive product designed from scratch with very clear goals in mind. I value and respect (and in many cases enjoy) the effort of modders, but for me the the fact that it's a mod alone does not make the product more enjoyable.
Let's say I review the quality of the final product independently of who has made it. (the difference being that if an amateur modder releases mediocre content I'd just say "ok, you tried, thanks for the effort, keep up the good work" while if it's a proffesional developer whose product -which was advertised as the second coming of Jesus- I've paid for then I'd probably be really annoyed).
My memories of CoW are vague, but I recall the orc models being great for instance. But that's not where the problem comes. Things get worse the more they try to change. For instance, the implementation of monsters is in my opinion not good, and you can't take away the feeling of the game being an "make-do workaround" than a fully-fledged, cohesive, consistent product designed from scratch with very specific and researched design goals in mind. The audio, the artistic design, the animations, all those tend to suffer as well.I'd even say most CoW models look better than the vanilla units
Mmm... how to put it... you might like architecture and out of interest you might be able to build an amazing St.Peter's basilica model using legos, but ultimatelly it's just not going to be as good a building as if you did it with proper construction materials and a professional team behind you. It's still going to be a remarkable achievement, but not something that substitutes the real deal.
(I hope that did not make things worse xD)
No, specially if you consider Europa Barbarorum or Broken Crescent as full conversions. It's quite easier to change models or even adapt animations for those games (historical games with human units) than implementing monsters or magic or what not.
The final result will most likely also be much more cohesive since the base game is designed for an historical setting.
Again, have I ever not spoken for myself?Basically, speak for yourself mate.
I'd say it's more tied to their consistent completelly bugged releases since Medieval 2 to be honest. The whole TW community is part of the PC community, and inside the TW community, the modding crowd is probably a minority.And the main reason Total War has been taking quite a reputation hit with the pc community is the lack of total conversions ever since Empire.
I am a pc Total War fan and I absolutelly love mods, and there is just no way I could blame CA more for not fully supporting mods (since it's not at all something they are compelled to do) as for not releasing polished, fully fledged, ambitious and beautifully designed games. I love(d) Blizzard games for instance and I have never felt the need to mod them, and the lack of mods has not hindered their reputation because their games are often just really good and well designed. Even if you might want to try new stuff every now and then, in many caes you end up realizing that the cohesion and quality achieved by the professionals is just so much better.
Modding is a really nice extra that adds replayability value, but in my opinion it is just not the main reason why I buy a game, in the vast majority of cases. If Warhammer TW ended up being a close to perfect game, I bet 95% of the people would just not bother modding it. Thing is that CA games are rarely close to perfection (and I'm not talking just about bugs, but about intentional design choices in general, be it artistic, or mechanical or whatever).