Hoff, you couldn't be more correct in your analysis of this recipe. For those who wish to argue that this recipe is balanced need to note a few things. First the nether star is one of the few items in game that are drop only items. As stated before, every pair of stationary portals requires another nether star to create another set. This does not even cover crafting other guns to provide different linked portals. Now to even get a stab at obtaining a nether star; one must first collect three wither skeleton skulls in the nether. The wither skeletons have only a 2.5% chance to drop a skull on death. Depending on your luck, you would need to kill anywhere from 3 to 120+ wither skeletons, just to obtain the skulls necessary to summon the wither. This doesn't even address the challenges of locating nether fortresses or wither skeletons within the nether. OR the proximity of your nether portal to the closest nether fortress. Why not just use a jetpack?
Now for issue of finding it as a rare drop within dungeon loot tables. Which dungeon loot? Is this within any chest, such as those found in random monster spawner rooms, or specifically within abandoned mines or strongholds? Being as each world only spawns three strongholds if it is the latter then the chances could be even less than the time needed to acquire the wither skeleton skulls. Or if you already discovered the strongholds within your world and opened these chests.
Now even if the mod author wished to make the recipe all diamond and emerald blocks, I could understand that, or adding a new block which consisted of 9 ender pearls and required 9 of these. But to use one of the two most difficult items to obtain in game, and the only one with any applicable use(beacons). Now if like a previous poster stated; you can just "cheat one into your game" not if you are on a SMP server where creative mode and /give items is unavailable. Or if someone is playing legitimately in single player without cheats.
Now this gets to another comment that stated the original author never intended for this to be used in survival maps, if so who cares? How does the intended audience justify measures to make a mod that adds a "novelty" item to the game prohibitively difficult to craft. Am I just complaining because I can't just get it for free? Not at all I have spent months on my server with a friend, not cutting any corners and without access to creative mode or cheats. we have crafted multiple gravitation suits (mod by SeNtiMeL), dozens of compact solar arrays and over 200 MFSU's. Now I am, if I was able to, just cheat myself in a item? This also doesn't address the issue of unforeseen deaths. What happen's when your jetpack runs out and you die in a pool of lava? Where's my portal gun now? Well I can get X mod and then I can craft it easier. I know of mods that would allow me to do just that, and yet its the same thing as cheating to add a mod for the express purpose of getting one item.
Lastly, This isn't an MMORPG and it will never be one, therefore the argument of overpowered and under-powered is non sequitur. Having beaten the game and sat through that heinous excuse for a story if it was intended to be anything other than a joke. The only end goal in minecraft is to create things. No matter how many "Achievement Gets:" you acquire there is no Tier, class, or rating-- You simply shake the virtual Etch-A-Sketch and start over. Therefore, smugness and elitism have no place in a sandbox game where, as Hoff put it, " you are competing with no one but yourself."