Words can’t describe my giddy joy when loot from Titan Quest started dropping.
However…
I think a good mod shouldn’t detract or cheapen the core game play. A great mod is one that adds features and gameplay and doesn’t constantly remind you that you are playing a mod. I hated that Grimmest guy popping up all the time with the hacked voice over. I don’t think the Zenith skill trees fit in the mod. I think some of the attempts at humor in the tool tips missed the mark and reminded me that I was playing a modded version of the game. But most of all, for me the game wasn’t stable after about lvl 50. The lag time when opening my stash, shrines and even the devotions tab got to be over bearing. I made 3 characters past 50, but the crashes to the black screen (with cursor) just kept me from continuing.
I haven’t really had that Zeke-bug for a few versions now. And it didn’t happen as many times as you describe it when it did happen.
If you use Grim Internals then playing Grimarillion will show up as part of the base game (only need a small edit in the .ini file for it to work).
I also had freezes/crashes in Grimarillion starting from a certain GD patch. Fortunately turning off “Auto item tooltips” in “Interface” removed 99% of my crashes/freezes. Now I can play for like 5-6 hours in a row without a single issue.