I had some strange experiences in my first attempt at this pack. I spawned in a Savannah Plateau M biome which wasn't tainted. There was no mob's spawning other than taint slimes and the very rare mob at night, like 1 every 3 nights. None underground either unless in a dungeon, is that intended? I made it up to the sojourner's sash and the 1 block step up enhancement wasn't present when wearing it, is this nerfed? Couldn't see anything in the botania change logs about it.
One other point, in the botania quest lines an early quest asks for a Mana pool, i think this should be a diluted mana pool, as its before the generating flower quests and you need a few flowers at least to make a normal pool.
I'm re-installing and restarting this morning, will see how it goes this time.