If you guys are still looking for someone who enjoys DF with no mods, I'm right here.
That said, do you prefer DF 2012 or DF 2014? Because DF 2014 is a modded DF 2012, just by the creator. Also do you truly prefer ASCII to any sort of tileset? Curious on that point.
I mean, I -enjoy- DF without mods, but my personal stance is mods improve it. I know having specific tiles for creatures adds a lot to everything for me, instead of being forced to look at every tile to check on if something is livestock or an invader.
That point aside, I also enjoy tilesets for being overall more pleasing to my eye, though that is going to be something that varies from person to person, hence why I like mods which add in the ability to change tilesets (including ASCII tilesets) at the click of a button.
And then there is things like my mod, Orichalcum, which I made because I saw things that could be done via RAWs to expand the game within Toady's stated dwarven tech level (human cultures up to 14th century in our world) which means things are added like cupronickel (copper-nickel alloy, stronger than bronze, used by Greeks, Romans, and 1st century BC Chinese in weapons/armor and decorations. Probably known as Orichalcum by the Greeks/Romans and was known as white copper by the Chinese, who used it well through the 15th century AD.) Iron from red sand, as most red sands are made up of iron oxide, and can be smelted and refined using a flux material, something done in many island cultures, most notably Japan for the vast majority of their iron production. Or Hand-cannons, which can be dated back to the 13th century Europe and 12th century china.
Given these and other things I've just seen a lot which makes sense to be in the game which aren't, so.... I added them. Toady has even said he plans to add things like hand-cannons in the future, though I'm not sure as to why he hasn't.
So... really there is a large question in my mind as to why some people react so negatively about mods, or say they shouldn't be included, even when some mods are just things the modding community has created to bring objects of stated goals into the game in advance, or to expand the options players have - not that you have to use them, but they are available.
I understand if you don't want to use mods which change graphics, or you prefer some features not be included, or perhaps you like how things are now, or preferred a previous version of DF hack - if that's the case, great. But Otherwise those who are against mods becoming part of the game, or implementations creating the same functionality in the main release in the future, just don't make sense to me, to be honest.
So regardless - what I'd like to see is both the march of progress Toady is doing as usual, but also incorporate a UI similar to the starter pack which allows tilesets to be changed at the click of a button - perhaps an official graphical tileset to be included alongside the ASCII or multiple popular ones from mods - and perhaps more openness on the graphics and GUI side of things, though that may be asking too much given Toady's past statements and actions.