Almost Perfect

A vanilla+/RPG pack where everything actually just works.

Progression
Not perfect, there are still enemies that 1 shot you in the early game, but they are rare enough that you learn to avoid them pretty quickly. That said, I would recommend playing with KeepInventory on.

The magic progression ties very well into exploration and mining. Some structures contain amazing loot that will make parts of magic progression a breeze. But you still need some gear to tackle most of them.

Currently stuck trying to find Hoglins in the Nether, as their skin is an important progression item, but they seem to spawn very rarely.

The questbook is well written and does a pretty good job guiding the player. Many items have helpful tooltips that explain how they work, but I would like more of that, since some of the ones that lack explanations anywhere in the pack are also lacking documentation online. Like the weird charms that don't go in charm slots, still no idea what those do.

I love how End Remastered, YUNGs Better structures, and Alex's Caves all enhance the exploration as well. Definitely install Horseman and Passable Foliage if you plan on using horses for anything.

I still hate Create, but the pack doesn't force you to use it that much so far. And you can't remove Create, since it is one of the core mods the pack is built around (it is "integrated" into most structures.)

The magic mods are pretty well integrated, but it is still annoying to have 2 competing spell systems that don't really interact, and require totally separate spell books to use.

Aesthetics
No weird texture packs or shaders. My only complaint here is that it still has the default Minecraft soundtrack, which I never need to hear again after 5000 hours (and which doesn't fit the pack's vibes imo).

Performance/Stability
The pack takes quite some time to start up and load into a world, but once it does, things are pretty smooth. I have a strong PC though, so take that with a grain of salt. I have seen a few weird bugs, like the Siren screen visual effect being stuck there permanently after I killed the Sirens, or the recipe for the Feather Fall thread upgrade in Ars Noveau not workinf at all. But most are minor enough.

Overall this pack is leagues and bounds ahead of anything else I have played from modern minecraft versions (except Inquisitive, which is good in similar ways, but that pack won't even launch for me nowadays...)