One of the biggest things I can state: Do not make HQM necessary. Make it a tutorial for someone who wants to learn the pack or just have a guide. One of the largest uses for HQM is guiding the player through while acquiring things they would otherwise never be able to get. Normally, one would have access to everything by a free, open world. This is why HQM is so openly prevalent on Skyblock and superflat map types. They are map types that require a way to get all of the content. If you are to use HQM, make it optional. If they want to, they can learn the pack and have a nice guide. But HQM really restricts freedom. Refer to Agrarian Skies for example (I don't mean to bash it, don't take it as such.) The beginning is very straightforward. Farm trees, make dirt, sift dirt, get cobble, make a furnace, make a crucible, make lava, get a cobble generator, etc. An open world gives you freedom that would never have, an open world this pack already provides. One last time, make it optional, not necessary.