It's been fermenting in my mind for several weeks now and I finally just, put as much of it into words on a screen as I possibly could. I have no idea how coherent this is and I do not have the time to put something like this together (considering it needs a lot of custom stuff added to it!) so I'm just gonna post it here. Who knows, someone might be able to turn it into a reality. I'll also try to remember to come back to this with anything else I think of.
Concept for a Minecraft modpack
By Techokami
INTRO
Vault Hunters has a lot of really cool ideas and does manage to scratch a certain itch, but iskall has no clue what "balance" is and instead makes things stupidly hard and grindy while also allowing for people to jump into the endgame of large mods rapidly. Seriously what the hell. And there is an overabundance of RNG just going "haha your gear is gone" because everyone liked Hermitcraft Season 6 where he made bank off Keralis using the minigame RUN (Random Unfair Nonsense), from which the tiers of loot and gear quality originate from.
The 1.16 version of Vault Hunters was... okay, it had a bunch of rough edges in retrospect and really hated on Immersive Engineering (seriously you need hard-to-obtain materials to make a certain kind of WOOD) and got stale in the midgame. The 1.18 version (known as Vault Hunters Version 3) adds a ton of polish while also taking away waaay too much.
As a result I've been thinking about how to make a similar concept modpack that addresses the issues within Vault Hunters while also being a more unique experience that still provides challenge and a clear path of progression for the player, both in a single player scenario and for a multi player server. This is me putting my thoughts into actual words on a screen.
CORE CONCEPT
The core of this modpack is that the player has to learn crafting recipes. The game rule "doLimitedCrafting" is strictly enforced, meaning players cannot craft things until they learn the recipes. Vanilla recipes, recipes required for initial progression, and "common sense" recipes are learned automatically when the player obtains the base materials for the craft. All other recipes are obtained via a "Knoledge Table" where players can spend experience levels and a special currency (Wisdom Nuggets) to unlock one new recipe from four categories: Builder (decorative furniture and farming), Blacksmith (metalworking and gear), Mechanic (redstone contraptions), and Magic (mystical stuff and potions). To collect the special currency, players have to venture into special dungeons generated on demand and complete them within a time limit. Progress from unlocking recipes also allows players to gain new skills and abilities. When all recipes are obtained, the player can craft a special portal that leads to a final boss fight to win the game.
EARLY GAME
The player will start a new game with one item in their inventory: the Crafting Guidebook. This is a green book that will be ideally powered by Patchouli, and have its contents dynamically updated as the player progresses in the game. This will replace the need for other in-game books from other mods (though they will still be present, and be used for endgame recipes) and be craftable with a book and a crafting table in case the player ever loses theirs. There will NOT be any mods like Just Enough Items, as that would be cheating. The vanilla crafting guide will be a better fit, as it is also searchable, but will only show what the player has actually learned, preventing confusion.
As the player prepares to make their first wooden pickaxe, a toast notification will inform the player that their guidebook has updated, which explains the first key change in this pack: vanilla tools cannot be crafted. Instead, Tinker's Construct will be part of this pack, and be the only way for players to craft gear. Equipment made with Tinker's Construct will also be modified to have limited repairs, which can be increased with progress in the Blacksmith category, but starts at zero. When equipment with no remaining repairs hits zero durability, it will completely break and be lost, unlike the default behavior of becoming a broken tool.
Armor should also be craftable using the Tinker's Construct crafting system, to allow for players to create custom armor to fit their needs. Only leather armor should be craftable from the vanilla armors.
Vanilla gear that is generated as part of a loot table will still be available, and be the ONLY means of obtaining said gear. This will be classified as "Treasure Gear".
VILLAGERS
"Easy Villagers" will NOT be present, as that is very cheaty. Toolsmith, Weaponsmith, and Blacksmith Villagers will no longer offer their usual gear offers; they will instead offer to sell random Tinker's Construct parts for players to use to make their own equipment. The Blacksmith is special, as his final trades will always be unenchanted chainmail armor, being the only way to get chainmail in the game, which is a step up from leather but not as good as iron.
Librarian Villagers will have all enchanted book trades removed. The vanilla enchanting system will be made unavailable. This is because gear enchanting is reserved for late-to-end game, before the player faces off against the final boss, the Ender Dragon. However, this modpack is far longer, and thus having access to enchantments at this point makes no sense. Instead, the player will slowly learn how to craft items that can be applied to gear to imbue them with equivalent enchantments.
GETTING TO THE FUN STUFF
Players will learn how to create the starter smelting equipment from Tinker's and use it to make an iron pickaxe. When they get their first diamond, they will learn how to use it to imbue their pickaxe to give it diamond-tier mining and extra durability. Since villagers no longer offer enchanted books for sale, players will be inclined to craft an Enchanting Table. However, the Enchanting Table will be hijacked to become the Knoledge Table instead. This table will be critical for the player in progression. Accessing it will offer players an interface with two tabs.
The first tab, selected by default, is the Recipe Repository. This is where players can see how many recipes they have learned for each of the four categories. The category can be clicked, and then players can spend experience levels and Wisdom Nuggets to unlock a new recipe from said category. The categories will all start with the first recipe requiring zero nuggets, with all subsequent recipes requiring one. These will give the player four recipes needed to create the Slipgate to generated dungeons.
The second tab is the Skill Sheet. This presents players with four skill trees, one for each of the categories. For every recipe unlocked, that category gets one skill point. These points can then be redeemed to unlock parts of their respective skill trees. For the Builder tree, this consists mainly of passive status-boosting skills, like extra reach, Strength, and Speed. For the Blacksmith tree, this consists of upgrades to the quality of crafted gear, like repair slots and better base stats. For the Mechanic tree, this consists of active use skills that involve holding down a hotkey to keep active, like vein mining. For the Magic tree, this consists of spells that consume some of the player's mana when used and have a cooldown, like a fireball attack.
Skill unlocks are of the "No Refunds" type, as the player will be able to unlock everything.
THE SLIPGATE
Dungeons for progression will be generated in a temporary dimension, to prevent the world file from becoming bloated. This is accessed from the Slipgate, which is crafted with ??? and activated with a Key Rune. Key Runes are made with ??? (perhaps an item fetch quest like VH?) and encode the dungeon's parameters.
Dungeon generation will be handled by known dungeon generating mods like Roguelike Dungeons and Doomlike Dungeons (and maybe Chocolate Quest if we can get its stuff?)
There will be a time limit, perhaps 30 minutes to an hour?
Three kinds of spawners will be used in dungeons to handle mob encounters: vanilla spawners (for an endless source of mobs), Quark's trap spawners (for a one-time group ambush), and static one-shot spawners (ala Chocolate Quest's spawners, used for very specific encounters and bosses).
Two possible goals for players: Reach the exit before time runs out, and Defeat the boss. Completing these will send the player safely back to their Slipgate and award them with dungeon experience and some reward loot. Escaping via the entrance is also possible, but doesn't award the player much experience and gives no bonus loot. Dying will reward no experience and reset the player's inventory to what they had when they entered. Dungeon experience will level up the dungeons generated, which improves the loot generation as well as grant the player some bonus points, which are wildcard skill points that can be used for any of the four skill trees; these points are always used up first. Higher level dungeons also generate stronger mobs to fight.
The chests in these dungeons will contain various crafting materials, treasures, as well as Wisdom Nuggets.
THE MODS
WAILA will be present, but it will be limited so that you will need the item to get its effect. There is a Bauble/Curio item for this. This is unlocked in the Mechanic category.
Quark, Tinker's Construct, Patchouli, Roguelike Dungeons have already been mentioned.
Doomlike Dungeons will need porting to the latest Minecraft, same with Chocolate Quest if we can get permission.
Immersive Engineering will be core to the Mechanic category. Create is also considered to be added alongside this.
Thermal series and Mekanism... maaaaaybe? Multi-block creations always seem more fun than magic block stuff, though these mods also offer some cool stuff that fits with the endgame...
OpenComputers, if the classic version gets its port to modern versions of Minecraft finished, will be very welcome. Not feeling the RISC-V overhaul.
Applied Energistics 2 will be the choice for a digital storage system.
Various furniture mods will be selected for the Builder category. Best to shop around to select the most interesting and fitting. If Bibliocraft ever gets its ass off 1.12...
Supplementaries will also be present, along with Storage Drawers. Yes, a storage mod that is part of the decorative track.
Look into a simple backpack mod; Sophisticated Backpacks are too overpowered.
Iron Chests will also be considered.
Botania will be the backbone of the Magic category.
If The Reliquary is still around, that might also be good? But some of the items will need to be limited to dungeon loot.
Twilight Forest will be a critical sidequest and get its own section, but access will require a new flower created via Botania's crafting systems to make the portal rather than vanilla plants.
Need to look into what other magical stuff is around...
Other mods will also be added as needed, this is just a baseline.
COMMON SENSE CRAFTING
All metals and gems from mods will have a base set of recipes naturally unlockable. These involve the ore block, the raw ore, the block of raw ore, the nugget, the ingot, and the block of the material. None of these should ever be gated because they make inventory management painful. Also, if multiple mods implement the same material, the better-looking option will be the only one available, disabling access to the other variants (though they can still be used and crafted with like normal, but can be broken down or crafted up as needed to merge with the pack defaults.)
SINGLEPLAYER AND MULTIPLAYER
The single player experience involves the player leveling up all four categories to their maximum. As they progress, they will be able to slowly improve their builds, gain access to magical abilities, create automatic farms with redstone, and craft better and better gear. A penultimate quest into the Twilight Forest, followed by creating the final portal and taking on the final boss, ends the game. This will be a time-intensive endeavor.
The multi player experience will allow multiple players to create a team, and then specialize in a single category. Players can then work together to share their expertise with one another to reach the final boss faster. This will mean that the players will not be as well prepared as a single player, but will have the advantage of being able to take on the final boss as a party.
TWILIGHT FOREST
Part of the Magic category gives players access to the Twilight Forest. This will require a new flower to be crafted and used to create the portal, but said flower should be made to generate naturally within the Twilight Forest dimension to allow players to create a new portal to exit with. All crafts within this mod are not gated behind the Knoledge Table. The final castle will need finishing (maybe give the wizards voice clips from Reelism 2?) as the reward for clearing this structure will be the Forbidden Tome. The Forbidden Tome is a special book that, when consumed, grants the player any missed recipes from the Twilight Forest mod, as well as one of the key recipes needed for creating the final boss portal. The Forbidden Tome can be cloned, using the tome itself, a Book and Quill, a Heart of Diamond, and 8 Wisdom Blocks. (Wisdom Nuggets can be crafted into Wisdom Ingots, and Wisdom Ingots can be crafted into Wisdom Blocks.) This can allow one player in a team to solo the forest, then share the crafts with teammates. Wisdom Nuggets will NOT generate in Twilight Forest loot.
TINKER'S CONSTRUCT AND CHANGES
As stated previously, Tinker's Construct is the main method for players to create gear. Without the Knoledge Table, players will be able to get to the starter smelter, which allows players to melt down metals with burnable fuels like coal and get basic metal parts. Recipes in the Blacksmith category will grant access to creating the larger, more powerful smeltery structures for creating advanced alloys. Other recipes will involve the creation of items to imbue tools with, replacing many of the vanilla resource-based addons normally seen in TC. This allows for gating these upgrades, which replace vanilla enchantments, so that very powerful upgrades like Mending are saved for the endgame. Two upgrades - one for Soul Speed and one for Swift Sneak - are only obtainable via the same methods used to get these enchants in the vanilla game.
As mentioned, repairs are limited and require investing in the skill tree. Each repair slot allows the player to use the base material of the gear to fully repair it, and use up the repair slot.
Other skill tree investments will alter the base stats of newly crafted gear. This includes Speed (how fast the tool mines/the player can attack), Power (attack strength), Durability, and Upgradability (how many extra upgrade slots the tool gets).
There will also be a new Cosmetic Table added, which will allow players to adjust the appearance of their gear. This way, players can reorder how upgrades are rendered, or even hide them entirely, as well as change out models for completely different ones, which can be obtained via dungeon loot. Perhaps also allow for the use of Immersive Engineering shaders?
IMMERSIVE ENGINEERING AND CHANGES
Immersive Engineering allows the player to create many powerful multi-block structures. But, there needs to be a way to gate the creation of many of these. VH 1.16 did this by having a limited normal hammer and an insanely expensive unlimited hammer. Instead, the multi-block structures should be altered to require a "core" block at the point where the player will normally use the hammer to transform the blocks into the machine, then gate the recipe for these blocks. This will allow for the desired progression system without needing a billion different hammers.
The steel armor and tools will most likely be disabled, with the armor becoming a cosmetic design that the player can use. Faraday armor can still be crafted as it is more of a safety utility for working with high voltage rather than defense against mobs.