It's kinda funny how the Tribes community in general is so completely against mods. When I picked up the full version of Tribes in '99 after playing demo, I knew what base was and I played it exclusively at the start, but there were a lot of fun mods that kept my interest as well. If it weren't for the mods, and in particular the competitive Ren community of T1, I might not still be playing Tribes today. Ren isn't exactly my cup of tea anymore, but it kept me here and that's what's important.
In most other FPS games, mods are embraced. And give people a little more credit - the dumb ones who can't tell a modification from the base game are NOT people you want in the competitive community anyway. Mods are a good thing. Lighten up a little bit and let people play the game they want to play.... if more mods = more players still playing the overall game, then that means more chance for Tribes 4, and more people that may eventually drift into the competitive scene.
If it hadn't been for T1 Ren / Shifter / Havoc etc, there would be quite a few players in many of the top teams right now that wouldn't even be here.