waltc: I think some difference is apparent between W3 & Skyrim *cough*...;) My allegory might be that W3 is at the top of Mt. Everest, maybe, with Skyrim coming in somewhere around rooftop level...I'd say it is already a far better game than Skyrim modded to the hilt. W3 is probably already 100x better than an unmodded Skyrim, imo. If this is not apparent to you then it looks like you haven't looked very deeply into the W3 game.
Skyrim is an exploration-focused game. Witcher 3's focused on narrative. They're very different in what they wish to achieve and both excellent, but which one comes out better in comparison will depend heavily on who you ask. Witcher 3's world design is beautiful, but gameplay-wise, it doesn't hold a candle to Skyrim's. Character customization is a joke in Witcher compared to Skyrim. However, Skyrim falls flat in narrative department, and that's where W3 excells. Combat in W3 is also far superior as far as swordfighting goes (let's not forget Skyrim offers many more means of dispatching of your opponents including sneaking past them, while in Witcher, every build is a swordsman who's focused a bit on something else)
waltc: Skyrim became a memorable game because of user-mods and expansions...most especially in the venue of graphics, imo ... W3 doesn't need that kind of crutch at all--the game is a visual masterpiece as it sits from the developer. I'm not quite sure if mods which "improve" on OOB image quality are actually possible in W3.
If you look at top-rated mods for Skyrim, about 30% are related to graphics, there are a few improving UI, but most are concerned with immersion, new content or new quests.
waltc: Again, though, mod support doesn't come from the game's developer or its distributors. Just like mod support for Skyrim did not come from Bethesda or Steam, etc.
Of course mod support does come from the game's developer, who else would it come from? Modding tools are essentially development tools polished up and released for general public to use.
