Of course you can always go without creative flight.
I thought loooooong and hard about this, actually. And I'm 100% ok with it as it stands (the flight progression). I talked about it at length in the pack creation thread, but this world I'm building has the dual purpose of being a testing ground for it.
First, I've been in this minecraft world for nearly 7 "Minecraft Years". And that time was spent pretty much doing nothing but advancing. Normally, I might take it slow on some of these steps, but I powered through. This ring was a long time coming.
The flight progression in this pack is actually kind of perfect. First up is the basic OpenBlocks glider. It's neat. It's serviceable. It's satisfying. But, it's not perfect. You have to actually hold it in your hand, which means you can't really use it and a sword at the same time, or you can't eat while you're floating to save time or anything. Not to mention your view is obstructed. It gets you around way better than running on foot, but there's plenty of reason to want more.
You can combine this with the grappling hooks to get up in the air and switch out the glider. This is good enough for a while because it doesn't require making giant ugly pillars to leap off from. But, again, it's pretty cumbersome for every day use, so we move to the next step, which is the Dark Steel glider. This has the benefit of being equipped directly, doesn't obstruct your view and lets you use other items as you're out there. This is a perfectly viable option. And combines especially well with the grappling hooks' "End Rod" option, which is like the grappling hook, but doesn't need something to latch onto. It just flings you up in the air. You can keep using it after a cooldown, so you can remain in the air indefinitely. This can certainly be where you stop, if you so desired.
But, I don't desire! I desire more fun and faster flight, and that's where the Elytra comes in. The flight mechanics are very different from the standard glider mechanics. It's cooler looking. It feels more fun. But, at this point, there isn't really an "advantage" to them over the dark steel glider. It's just an option (and options are good!). But, combine it with the ring of the flying squid, which is a basic cheap jetpack-like thing that you can keep in your inventory. Hold the jump button to float up. Combine this with the elytra and it's a much smoother, easier to control experience. Just like the Dark Steel Glider option, you can remain in the air indefinitely. But, the Elytra is actually TOO fast with the End Rod, so this is the much better option. It's also much, much easier to land on a dime in the middle of the sky. This is the best free-form method to get around. This is the combo I'm using as I'm floating around like a butterfly and stinging like a bee in that last video.
But, Minecraft isn't all about getting around. It's about building things. And, so far, all of my flight options are bad for building things. That's where the Angel Ring or Wings of the Bats come in handy. I can fly way faster and it's a lot more fun using the Elytra, but only creative flight lets you build large things unimpeded. Given that this thing cost me 5 Nether stars and 4 ghast tears, and I already have better travel methods, I couldn't justify NOT going for it at this point.
The idea is to have a solid progression line and I've got it. I think of all the things I'd want to tweak, this isn't one of them. It's kind of already in the sweet spot. And I'm excited now, because building will be soo much easier. I'm about to have to build a large tower, and it's going to be so much nicer doing the detail work without having to worry about scaffolding and all that. Sure, there's value to the more complicated builds, but I'll save that kind of challenge for my next vanilla run (sometime after the Super Duper Graphics Pack is released, and I'm sure it'll last like 2 days before I'm back to modded, lol). Right now, though, I want the freedom to build like I'm in creative. I've put in the "work" to get there, so it feels rewarding.