I think older packs didnt have as many overlapping mods. As one guy said above, he got frustrated seeing his neighbor do all the things he did in 1/5th the time. This shouldnt bother people, but we are only human and we all have egos and jealousy, etc.
look at a pack like MF2, if you want to process ores its just te3, right? So everyone who goes the tech route has about the same choice. TC4 is pretty well balanced mod. no auto mining except the late game laser drill, correct?
So you wont have one person strugglin with rotary craft while another sets up quarries and some te3 stuff and starts rolling in ores with an ae system bragging his stockpiles up with monitors for everyone to see when they stop by. I know, it shouldnt work like this, but it does for a lot of players. One guy has 50k Iron, while aother guy says 'hey do i grease up this rotarycraft thingy again or not?' Or whatever.
Monster, to me, is the furthest thing from MF2 or the older packs, which WERE more balanced than it is. people say we shouldnt care about balance, but i think only older players sstop caring so much. You cant talk about how many pulverizer vs macerator arguments were posted here and then claim no one cares about balance.And.. its fun to discuss which item is more efficient, or better used in certain applications, or why it works better for your playstyle. All games attempt balance. Diamond swords do more damage than iron, but its harder to make them as the resource is scarcer. Balance.
The bigger packs get, and the more you have mods that arent old, long time mods that were designed *somewhat* with each other in mind (forestry, ic2, te, buildcraft) the more imbalances you will see, and the more youll see comments like the guy above, who got angry that he did a ton of work and didnt really get anything for it compared to his friend.
Then you have a pack like MF2 which does have balance in mind, and its pretty popular and gaining popularity id say. more and mor epeople talk about it now. If it didnt have the word Magic in the title, id think it would have done really well, anyone like me just ignored it when it came out assuming it was a magic themed pack only.
I think if somoene made a tech pack with balance as a goal like MF2 did, it would be immensely popular here. But for months anyone mentioning balance was laughed at... and yet now a pack did just that, and has people really excited again.
MF2 Ore processing:
Smeltery: Tier 2 tech... its more complicated to automate , needs space
Pulverizers: Tier 3 tech easier automation
MFR Block Smasher: Acts like a fortune pick, not hard to get or use but is luck based for ore multiplication and use XP for the fortune effect. Processes ores in inventory.
AE Grinder: Tier 1 tech Only works on lower tier ores like copper and tin, cannot be automated, easy to get.
Auto Mining:
Laser Drill: Complex infrastructure needed. Massive power requirements. Needs tuning to get good ore drops. Small foot print but watch out for the laser it bites.
Ender Quarry: Tier 5 tech , needs a decent amount of setup in laying out the fence boundaries by the time you have one of these you have mined enough ore by hand that you have earned a break.
There's still some redundancy in MF2 but I prefer the choices have pros and cons and that a higher tech tier machine offer a bonus for upgrading like easier automation. In MF2 machines in Tier 1 can't be automated Tier 2 can be with a decent amount of work Tier 3 is easy to automate and Tier 4 and up pretty much automate themselves.
I think where the conflict in a lot of packs come from is leaving all the machines at close to the same tech level. That leads to people griping about cheaper and balance etc.
