If it weren't for the mods that made stock SHII better I would have quit playing months ago. But seeing every couple of days a new mod that improved game play and eyecandy popped up, that alone kept me going..... and adding mods. I have over 80 mods installed in my stock SHIII alone. And, 5 DVDs totalling over 20 gigs of mods. Not all mods out there but many of them.
Now that GWX is out I've all but stopped playing stock SHIII. It's now in a backup for the time being. One day I'll get back to it just to finish the career I started. For now I've been adding mods that are safe with GWX along with the last update. And if the next update is as good as adding mods, I'll go on playing GWX until I finish a career with it. GWX has added that touch of finesse to SHIII that won't let me stop playing, it's that good. Nothing can be taken for certain in GWX. You can't and don't know what's over the horizon each day in gameplay. Besides, just reading the manual keeps you going to see what's been implemented in the expansion.
If the developers of SHIII ever play GWX they'll be amazed how much SHIII's been improved. I'm not trying to take away from RUB or NYGM as I've never run them. But from what I've heard and read, they too would have the SHIII developers saying "yes, that's what we wanted all along. All 3 expansions have put a polished touch to it."
What new expansions are over the horizon God only knows. But these and any new ones will keep sub gamers quite happy for a long long time.