Guided quests/goals have really become more important to me than before. I’ve played so much Minecraft that a pure everything sandbox isn’t interesting anymore for my friends and I, and it’s more important to have a goal and end point to our worlds so we don’t just slowly stop playing on the server until someone finally shuts it down.
So packs with limited mod sets, and some sort of quest book. It also helps learning new mods so much more than a wiki.
For actual content, we typically enjoy an automated/tech/magic mix, without going as far as gregtech style.
Absolutely the same for me too and not just a few quests but actual thought and depth in the quests. I love progressive type modpacks that have to work through other mods to get to the end goal. Very satisfying.
Coherent and material threats and challenges which demand competency of mechanics, applied creatively to overcome.
Better Than Wolves isn’t really a “pack”, but by a pretty large margin it’s the best I’ve ever played
that’s the reason i’ve been liking mods like cold-sweat and serene seasons. playing a mod like that on hard mode puts pressure on players to prepare for seasons, and it makes the game feel like it takes effort to survive
greg