I really don't like PR because every texture that was re-textured looks ugly as hell. The ores, the red alloy ingots, the everything is crafted stupidly and looks bad.
I just like the integrated timer block, so I don't have to build my own clocks. I agree with you about the ores and stuff, but I also don't really care very much, because I mostly don't use them. I don't need rubies for pickaxes because I make mine out of Vyroxeres from Metallurgy 3, very efficiently with Tinker's Construct. So they last longer than the ruby ones ever did.
The other reason why integrated redstone really doesn't matter very much any more, is because everyone has started using things like autarchic gates, or the new filters on the TE item ducts. People don't want to use redstone clocks because of the server lag it causes. I play single player with a quad core i7, and even I notice a framerate jerk when I use a redstone timer on my old cobblestone generator.
I also don't care about XyCraft either. I have OpenBlocks tanks now, and truthfully I didn't like the fact that XyCraft filled my world up with items that I mostly never used. 1.6.4 has probably been the best Minecraft version ever for me, and I thought things could never get better than 1.2.5, either.