Initially a friend and I landed on MeatballCraft because we were looking for a mod pack that would match our very different playstyles. I am a very tech/automation-focused player and he is a more adventure/combat/RPG-focused player. MeatballCraft is, to date, the only pack we've ever found has ever kept both of us interested throughout the time we both put into the pack and we only made it to roughly Chapter 3 or 4 during our approximately 1,500 (combined) hours of playtime (1,000 for me, 500 for him).

The Early Game

The mod pack starts of very in a very kitchen sink style with unlocks coming pretty quickly, mostly focused on cosmetic blocks and quality of life features. Things like ProjectE's Transmutation Tablet and Philosopher Stone are available near the very beginning of the pack to aid in building beautiful bases and almost all cosmetic blocks have EMC values. EMC loops are easy to build and, in fact, are not only encouraged but an intended feature highlighted by the quest book. Many useful features like /dank/null storage, ProjectE's Alchemical Satchel's, and other early storage options are relatively easy to access in the early game.

The Mid-Game

This is where my friend and I spent the bulk of our time with the pack. This was split between questing through the many, many, many dimensions on offer and automating various items, materials, and other things to unlock the next dimensions in the pack. The automation was, usually, not too onerous if you had done due diligence, followed the quest books early recommendations, and automated or even passived the items from the previous set of quests. This pack rewards taking your time and doing your automation right the first time. Slap-dashing your builds together to rush through the pack will bite you down the road, no if's, and's, or but's.

The difficulty curve is maintained by certain hidden recipes which are unlocked via special items that must be crafted to reveal them. Using these items increases mod difficulty in various ways (more health, armor, damage, and more). This keeps combat interesting, at least up to the point my friend and I made it into the pack.

The number of dimensions on offer also helps keep enemy variety up as well as keeps special bosses and other fun mechanics in play for the more adventure-focused players. Many custom set pieces are also present, summoned in or warped to via special items that are crafted throughout the pack. A very fun and unique mechanic and I wish more packs did.

Tying all this together is an overarching plot line that, while a bit arbitrary, does a decent job at providing a reason for all the shenanigans, arbitrary crafting recipes, and random dimensions to exist together in this one pack. It's a bit of a shallow plot line, admittedly, but to paraphrase from a certain early days id Software developer, "Story in a video game is like story in certain kinds of 'films', it's expected to be there but it's not all that important". The story is simply a vehicle to give the mod pack a reason to exist and, in that regard, it's perfectly serviceable.

Minor Criticisms

I really only have a few small criticisms to hand out to this mod pack.

1. Some recipes were, at the time my friend and I were playing, quite simply unreasonable. These recipes could stand to be toned back. A good example of this is the Extreme/Bigger Reactor's Turbine Casings. It's a BIG investment to stand your first one up for where it is in the pack.
2. The placement of certain quality of life options feels... Off at times. For example, the placement of the Angel Ring in the progression tree feels far too late in my personal opinion. You can get creative flight earlier, though with a time limit, but anyone who can put in a bit of time can easily grind out essentially unlimited creative flight time with a hint of early automation. So why not just make the Angel Ring an earlier unlock? It's just a bit odd.
3. Thaumcraft, while integrated, does not have enough early options to manage Taint. This is more of a Thaumcraft problem, to be a bit fair, but the mod pack does try to adjust things to deal with this. I feel more could be done in this regard as it's far too easy to cause Warp-related problems and corrupt your entire world with no way to stop it. I realize that's kind of the point of Taint but it's also just flat out not fun to deal with after pouring so many hours into the pack to simply get to that stage.

As an aside, the pack, while developed on GitHub, is not developed in manner that feels welcoming to outside contribution. Not strictly a mark against the pack but it's worth mentioning as I feel the pack could be so much more amazing with a more active community of developers than the one man show it currently is.

Overall Thoughts

I cannot recommend this mod pack enough. It's well balanced and just flat out fun for pretty much all play styles, but particularly when differing play styles come together to cooperate to complete it!