My issue really is that other packs seem to go from early game to end game in just a week or two of playing. Id just like to stretch that out.
I think I said this earlier. The only difference is that you define as "end game" most people playing and creating the mods actually see as the beginning of the fun portion. I promise you that if you start thinking of it that way, and considering what you can do once you get to that "end game" you'll find that you'll discover a ton of interesting projects and ideas to spend time on.
For example, I'm two weeks into a new server, and I've been playing at least 5 hours a day and all day on weekends. I have a quarry, MFR tree farm, nether lava pump, full suit of MPS with flight and diamond plating, and an ME system with a 5x5x5 MAC. I'm betting that according to your definition, I'm at end game. But I'm not bored yet. From my perspective, I have barely begun to start playing. I still need to set up farms for cotton, wheat and seeds. Then I'll need to make some farms for both animals and mobs. Especially for blazes and endermen, but having a constant source of arrows wouldn't hurt. Maybe I'll try running my steam dynamos on coal from a wither skeleton farm, haven't done that before. And even after I get all that done, I still have more improvements to make. I'd like to eventually have the mob farms automatically turn on when I'm low on that resource and turn back off once I'm topped off. I'd like to make a 3x3 chunk tower with each floor dedicated to a different farm type. Then I'd like to create an elevator system to get me around all the floors. Normally I do some bee breeding, but that's getting old, and I'm on 1.6.4 so I'm going to see what I can do with horses and horse breeding. Along the way, with expansions to my ME system and to my production line, I'll probably end up needing more efficient power, and start figuring out the most compact method of generating some. Maybe I'll experiment with the compression dynamos and see how coal fuel compares to charcoal. I'll probably try the bioreactor and see how efficient it is when fed by the output from crops. Maybe I'll scrap the quarry and get all my resources from laser drills and harvesters on berry bushes. Maybe I'll finally play around with MFFS. Maybe I'll build a wall all around my base out of seared brick, marble and clear glass. Maybe I'll program a turtle to do it. It'll be months before I even scratch the surface of what I'm planning to do, and by then the modpacks will probably be updated to a new version and I'll have to start from the beginning anyway. And if not, I'll think of something else. Back in vanilla, I started building an in game clock out of redstone, but I never got the logic done. Would be nice to see if I can do it with rednet and glowstone lamps. So yeah, there's plenty for me to beyond the "end game."
And hey, if you just really don't find that stuff fun at all, then there's nothing stopping you from just not doing the things that get you to end game in a week. You don't have to build a quarry, or an MFR tree farm. You don't have to make a single Thermal Expansion machine. And by making those choices personally, you'll avoid the problem of getting frustrated when your tinkering and changes don't end up the way you want them to.
