MeatballCraft, Dimensional Ascension

I'm a modern guy. I usually run away from modpacks that are 1.17 and less, much less 1.12.
I decided to give it a try after being pestered by a friend, and oh boy. When I woke up again, I had built a biblically accurate ME controller, was deep into chapter 3, my sleep schedule was hanging by a thread, and two and a half weeks had passed without me even noticing.

It is, in a word, incredible. Especially if you follow the Java 22 guide, it loads in practically 3-4 minutes, and runs at a steady high fps (around 100) with little to no issue.
It is important to note that you should host a server for this. It is not kind to the space on your computer, and I am pretty sure something will burn if singleplayer is attempted with a sufficiently old pc. I managed to finagle Java 22 onto the server as well, and have had steady 18-20 TPS with 4-6 active players at the same time being absolute bafoons. For 3-4 people, having a 20GB RAM / Ryzen 7 CPU server was fine, but as we advanced and got more players I switched to 30GB and Ryzen 9. Haven't had problems since.

The pack is hard, yes, but it is also unforgettable (and really satisfying). I remember early game was quite terrorizing, and my friend fell into limbo and had his own little existential horror show while I was making donuts to not die of hunger. Fun times~
And don't get me started about the dragons! Man, they are something else. We hunted for a spot where there were none, built a base, and when we finally settled in and got a pet lizard, one erupted from under the earth. It was quite traumatic (and funny) (We then exterminated all dragons in a two mile radius out of that fear). Point is, it keeps ya on your toes. Never, ever forget to do a dragon-check. They could be anywhere. There could be a dragon, right NOW, salivating over you while you are reading this. Beware.

The dopamine amount this pack generates is immense, probably with the easy quests and there are so many of them so cool.

I've been in and around the community for almost 3 years now, since the inception of the pack.

It is a very well-detailed and balanced expert mod pack that includes many different mods. The pack follows an atypical structure of non-linear progression, interweaving mods at various stages of progression, as opposed to your average linear expert pack (which revolves around doing one mod at a time). Documentation is included in the questbook itself, covering most of the major tech and magic mods, as well as comparing the differences between features from different mods that may have similar functionality.

This modpack relies heavily on automation and exploration, which are interconnected as exploration contains puzzles that yield QOL rewards that improve the grind of said automation. The pack demands that you automate everything, and provides multiblock alternatives (after finishing puzzles/challenges) for those that may be slow or laggy. Additionally, ProjectE is introduced to the player at the very start of the pack, in Chapter 2 (around 50 hours of gameplay), as there is a focus on complex crafting chains and unique mechanics rather than mass resource collection.

Stability is exceptional in this modpack given many included experimental performance mods and custom mods written by the community. Client performance can be improved significantly by following the Java22 instructions on the wiki page as well. One thing to note, however, is that, as Meatballcraft is an ultra-large modpack, TPS management is necessary to maintain playable server performance, especially in mid-late game.

One of my favorite modpacks I've ever played. I feel like it's a balance between fun and silly things and very good multiblocks and progression. I never feel like I'm just farming. It also gives you very fun and powerful tools from the start, but they feel balanced. Even when fighting mobs, there is always a challenge.

I have been playing this modpack for more than half a year now, keeping up with the updates and having fun all the way through!
I love how heavily this modpack leans on automation, and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your work come to fruition with automated production of some of the hardest things

I've barely started this modpack, only in chapter two but I'm having a fantastic time, this is the only modpack so far that has grabbed me like this.

This modpack is what gregtech is what gregtech cannot ever be, fun and interesting. Tech progression is amazing and locked behind some adventure exploration. Puzzles are great and the dialogue between the villagers is interesting to say the least. 10/10 would recommend.

Amazing progression and feel for the pack, nice touch in difficulty, needs a somewhat beefy computer though.

I should have around 40~ hours of gameplay with a couple of friends, and we are still in chapter 2. Very excited to see what the future chapters bring,

Found the modpack through a youtube series from @lashmak, and with in his first 30 seconds of the video. He was praising how amazing this modpack was, knew i had to try it myself. So glad that I did, have been hooked since. Everything iv'e experienced in the pack so far has been really enjoyable, and hasn't felt like a grind. Quest book + all the effort that has went into explaining things in JEI through tips has helped me with any wall that iv'e come across so far. On top of an amazing discord community if you feel like interacting, or can just use it as one big wiki.

Well balanced progression, and intriguing puzzles. A lot is left for you to experiment with and discover.