I always find it funny when people call Rotary Craft iron hungry. Especially since Reika went to all the trouble of ensuring that you get bonus Steel from the Blast furnace if you fill it completely with iron. (All 9 slots, not 9x64, although that helps as well.) Of course, one wind turbine and a worm gear will run a grinder without issue. Not terribly fast, but it will do it.
Anyway, I get mDiyo's point, but at the same time, I think he's wrong. True, there's very little progression in some mods, and lots required in others. Can you skip? Sure. The problem isn't with the mods themselves. Instead it's with the balancing. Unless they are required to have another mod, such as Forestry requiring Buildcraft, or GregTech requiring IC2, all mods have to be balanced at least initially against Vanilla. It's only once they're in direct comparison to other mods that most of them have a problem. Each one is almost it's own game.
Can you skip balance points? Sure. I can skip the annoying part of IC2 ore multiplication with a TE Pulverizer.