I liked the platform...

[SemiPr0]

I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet. I appreciate the work that goes into modpacks and the "Platform" was a fairly neat idea, but it has, by its very existence, killed the very thing that made Technic/Tekkit good.

 

Heres the bullet points on why Technic/Tekkit was good.

1. I could give a friend one link and they could play the exact same game I was playing.
2. I could give a friend one link and they could have a nice texture pack for the game I was playing.
3. My friends and I could play the same game together with relatively no hassle...and this made Technic/Tekkit awesome.

Now with the platform we've got going on several hundred mod pack variants and whats more Tekkit itself is constantly evolving and updating, which isn't potentially bad, but I wouldn't say the current main branch version for Tekkit is all that good either, its functional but I consistently find myself having to add mods to it that I want to use to make it something that I enjoy playing.

 

Now I could sit here and spout verbal diarrhea about why I personally think Tekkit is now "bad"...but that serves no purposes but to generate needless negativity, so overall the problem isn't really Tekkit, its the fact that the "Platform" took away Tekkits basic one click "awesome" that allowed tens of thousands of people to all share the same experiences and come up with a bunch of really creative and variant ways to solve the same problems.

 

Now I know you can still play the "old Tekkit" but I'm not so much concerned about playing "old Tekkit" as compared to being able to play a game I enjoy with my friends and doing so in a relatively hassle free manner.

 

I realized the "Platform" allows me to "easily" share my own mod pack creations with my friends, but that diaspora of the tech pack mod community was already bad enough with FTB coming into play, while Tekkit was still the go to modpack experience for people, simply cutting the pie into so many pieces did the entire idea behind what Technic was no favors at all, cause now instead of one modpack I need at least 10 or so to play on various servers where friends of mine and I play...and depending on what the server is doing, I might not even be able to do that...depending on the competence of the modpack designer that made the modpack the server was playing.

 

So..in the end....I kinda miss the "good old days" where we all kinda played the same thing and had different answers to the same challenges. Thats what made Technic great....being able to see and share so much creative fun with other people in the pursuit of MOAR POWER.

 

So yeah, sorry if I'm rehashing some shit someone said 20 years ago or something, but its really been something thats been on my mind since the Platform's launch and has only served to get worse as I've watched the MC Modpack community split into smaller and smaller and smaller little specialized cliques.

 

The option for having user created modpacks is really good, don't get me wrong, but the Technic experience, with all the main branch modpacks developed internally, should really be the big attractions..and they're kinda not..so much. Most of my friends are playing ScareCrowKrone's Moonquest build atm...why? Cause Yogscast...thats why, and the ostensible differences between Moonquest and Tekkit is what? Mekanism? Archimedes Airships? Tinkers Construct? A Hat mod? Oh and a distinct lack of Dimensional Doors? Its almost the same modpack just with a few key primary mod differences and thats it.

 

Anyways thats my completely meaningless rant which will change nothing at all. I just wanted to get it out of my head.

Edited February 20, 2014 by SemiPr0

[SXScarecrow]

The Platform was, and is, a community fuelled system. Technic wants everyone to be able to enjoy what they want to play in the easiest possible way. That system doesn't exist anywhere else. And yes, some of these modpacks aren't that different but they all appeal to different people. A fair amount of people here don't understand how to make modpacks, and rely on the Platform to find their 'perfect' mod setup. The Platform exists because there was, and still is, a demand for such a system. I agree that the hundreds of thousands of modpacks on the Platform (including about a hundred copies of mine) can dilute the system, however once a user finds something they like, they are going to agree that the Platform was the easiest method of getting it. There is definitely room for improvement in a few areas, but overall the Platform is an excellent system and an amazing community project.

 

I also disagree entirely with your statement about the Platform 'splitting into specialized cliques'. I am no longer on Page One of the Platform listing, but I work with about half a dozen other modpackers, and mix communities on a regular basis. This idea of the Modpack community being 'split' is a nonsense. Hey, the top three stickied threads in this sub-forum have been contributed to by over a dozen different modpackers, including yours truly. I really don't understand how you can say the community is splitting.

 

EDIT: Tell your friends thanks for playing my MoonQuest!

Edited February 20, 2014 by SXScarecrow

[dwwojcik]

Back before the platform, everyone had to play Tekkit. There wasn't any choice because it was so hard to make sure everyone had the same versions of mods and the same configs. Now, people can play exactly what they want with their friends/internet strangers, and that's a good thing.

One size doesn't fit all.

Edited February 20, 2014 by dwwojcik

[SemiPr0]

The Platform was, and is, a community fuelled system. Technic wants everyone to be able to enjoy what they want to play in the easiest possible way. That system doesn't exist anywhere else. And yes, some of these modpacks aren't that different but they all appeal to different people. A fair amount of people here don't understand how to make modpacks, and rely on the Platform to find their 'perfect' mod setup. The Platform exists because there was, and still is, a demand for such a system. I agree that the hundreds of thousands of modpacks on the Platform (including about a hundred copies of mine) can dilute the system, however once a user finds something they like, they are going to agree that the Platform was the easiest method of getting it. There is definitely room for improvement in a few areas, but overall the Platform is an excellent system and an amazing community project.

 

I also disagree entirely with your statement about the Platform 'splitting into specialized cliques'. I am no longer on Page One of the Platform listing, but I work with about half a dozen other modpackers, and mix communities on a regular basis. This idea of the Modpack community being 'split' is a nonsense. Hey, the top three stickied threads in this sub-forum have been contributed to by over a dozen different modpackers, including yours truly. I really don't understand how you can say the community is splitting.

 

EDIT: Tell your friends thanks for playing my MoonQuest!

 

I've actually played MineTek and Moonquest too and I like your work I'm not saying that the modpack community is "splitting" but its basically a case of oversaturation.

 

Technic/Tekkit were special in their time because they were unique. They took a great game that everyone more or less likes...Minecraft and turned it into a super powered tech challenge pack that gave people so many different ways to solve the same various problems.

 

Now what we have is a bunch of packs that are individually interesting, but are all doing more or less the same things just in very minorly different ways. Just like I pointed out, Tekkit and Moonquest are not ostensibly different from each other, the difference between them is largely UE based Mekanism and Tinkers Construct and thats mostly it.

 

And I do agree...one size doesn't fit all, this is why, say, in the soft drink industry there are thousands of different options of things to drink..but somehow Coke and Pepsi still hold the largest world wide market shares regardless of this variety. And what I'm saying is that the specialization of the platform and custom modpacks hasn't strengthened the core experience, instead of "Coke" having the largest overall market share of Minecraft modpack players, the modpack player community is so heavily split between all the variants that the primary experience is weak and less interesting comparatively.

[Amaxter]

I've actually played MineTek and Moonquest too and I like your work I'm not saying that the modpack community is "splitting" but its basically a case of oversaturation.

 

Technic/Tekkit were special in their time because they were unique. They took a great game that everyone more or less likes...Minecraft and turned it into a super powered tech challenge pack that gave people so many different ways to solve the same various problems.

 

Now what we have is a bunch of packs that are individually interesting, but are all doing more or less the same things just in very minorly different ways. Just like I pointed out, Tekkit and Moonquest are not ostensibly different from each other, the difference between them is largely UE based Mekanism and Tinkers Construct and thats mostly it.

 

And I do agree...one size doesn't fit all, this is why, say, in the soft drink industry there are thousands of different options of things to drink..but somehow Coke and Pepsi still hold the largest world wide market shares regardless of this variety. And what I'm saying is that the specialization of the platform and custom modpacks hasn't strengthened the core experience, instead of "Coke" having the largest overall market share of Minecraft modpack players, the modpack player community is so heavily split between all the variants that the primary experience is weak and less interesting comparatively.

I agree that's it hard for original modpacks to succeed when extremely minor deviations from Tekkit and Youtube Lets Play modpacks (like my Ultra Modded Survival pack for instance) get so many likes. Maybe the Platform should have a modpack of the week/month that spotlights a pack that has effort put into it and is a new and original idea. Edited February 21, 2014 by Amaxter

[sct]

The Platform was designed with server owners in mind. You just couldn't easily modify base modpacks like Tekkit without having all your players make the same changes on the client end. That was a pain in the ass! The Platform solved this problem and now you see servers like Tekkify thriving with their own custom modpacks. We even have some really awesome custom stuff like Crafting Dead.

 

It seems you don't like progress.

[SemiPr0]

The Platform was designed with server owners in mind. You just couldn't easily modify base modpacks like Tekkit without having all your players make the same changes on the client end. That was a pain in the ass! The Platform solved this problem and now you see servers like Tekkify thriving with their own custom modpacks. We even have some really awesome custom stuff like Crafting Dead.

 

It seems you don't like progress.

 

Its not that I don't like progress its that I kind of enjoy games with a strong core experience and community. For a fair amount of time in "internet time"...though technically only a brief flash in actual chronological time...Technic/Tekkit were literally what made Minecraft interesting again. I had actually owned Minecraft since the early beta days but hadn't played it in ages because even with its creative aspects it just became boring.

 

Technic/Tekkit...in its original incarnations had a great combination of mods (admittedly there were controversies involved of course but thats not worth even going back over any more) which provided an extremely strong extensionary core experience on the Minecraft base....the pack as it was designed literally seemed designed from the ground up by someone that actually had a good handle on the mechanics of games systems design and understood, implicitly, the core experience of putting tiered solutions to ever more complex problems right within the grasp of the user if they were willing to put in the effort to achieve it.

 

Conversely, since the advent of the Platform, this has become far less the case. While it definitely makes life easier for server owners, and I respect that you guys put the effort into building a system to simplify the system of development and distribution for specialized servers, the core experience of the primary team products has lost strength (largely not due to developmental team deficiencies but due to mod turn over and compatibility problems).

 

So while catering to the server owners is of course a laudable thing, from the stand point of presenting a "game" (I would use the term mod but Technic/Tekkit with the combined efforts of the modders who made the mods and Kaker and the team who did the interop and balance to get them all working together logically, Technic/Tekkit were more a game of its own than it was simply a mod of Minecraft), its left the core user experience as a secondary concern.

 

Tekkit in its current primary incarnation is a shadow of what Tekkit 1.2.5 was, is this because less streamers and tubers are covering it and using it as a base for their video series? I don't really think so, its largely because comparatively, Tekkit now, even with Galacticraft and the additions its seen since its initial release versions, as compared to its antecedent namesakes, is providing and continues to provide a linear system of technical development to what is, overall, a single goal.

 

Hexxit lacks the same strength of core experience, and Big Dig....well thats not even something to debate because its more or less just a tech mod with ore generation cheats, and Voltz is languishing in the hell of non-development because of its UE base being superceded and split up.

 

Simple facts are, the platform is good because it at least attempts to provide mods with well thought out interop and balance, but even those remain few and far between and most packs are server specialized and/or individual pack efforts which have a community of probably less than 100 people that can share it.

 

In the end, while providing a strong support system for individual MC communities is a great thing, in the process the core experience that was Tekkit has been sharded into a hundred different pieces. Did you like <aspect X> of Tekkit...well play <modpack Y> did you like <aspect Z> of Tekkit? Well you should play <modpack A>, did you like EE2? Well f**k you, you can play Minecraft from two years ago if thats how you like your games (not specifically harping on EE, I'm well aware the developer of EE hasn't done anything with EE since releasing the EE3 initial alpha).

 

So in the end...the Platform is a great help to the online MC community and a great achievement in regards to ease of access for server owners, but....what about us? What about the players that actually came into this because of what Technic/Tekkit had achieved? What about you guys? The people that have been developing the packs since the beginning and have dealt with all the LUL drama that the Minecraft based internet can throw at you and still kept on going? Isn't continuing to present a strong core product important? I mean if I wanted to play a modpack that "someone else" thought was a great pack...I'd be drinking Direwolf20's koolaid...not browsing through the platform and trying to find gems amongst the 800 copies of Minecraft+Counterstrike+Left4Dead clones in there, or the 1500 different versions of "Tekkit..but different" that are literally mod for mod the same as Tekkit just with that one "special" mod that the pack author is dreadfully convinced makes Tekkit better.

 

Simple facts are....I'm not against progress at all, I'm astonished...somewhat, by the lack of it.

 

Technic/Tekkit made me wonder how I ever played Minecraft without it. When do you guys plan on achieving that level of strength in your core experiences again? Or do you even care to? And I'm not asking that passive aggressively, its a genuine question Sct.

 

Apologies for the length of my response.

[Melfice]

But how is this related to Platform?
Are you under the impression every modpack on there is handmade by the Technicpack team and that it is taking away time from the main packs? (You are not. You've made that clear, but still...)

 

Any "bad" change you've mentioned is all due to mods being abandoned, or whatever. It's nothing the Technic crew can deal with.

Your bad "core experience" is down to your tastes being different, really. At least, that's what I'm taking away from it.

 

Technic has been as strong as they've ever been in my opinion.

Not all packs are to my taste, of course. I don't like playing Hexxit, but I like the idea behind it. Big Dig? Not my thing, but I can see how it's fun on servers.

To say that the complete experience has been bad since 1.2.5 is... shortsighted, really.

Edited February 25, 2014 by Melfice

[Maxis010]

I've only glanced over this but what I'm getting from this is you think that the platform has taken away from the packs created by the original team by heavily diversifying the market

So for argument's sake, lets say the platform didn't exist

All this would do is make modpack installation harder for the end user, and it may also cause the communities that use minecraft to split because as the packs change tastes are not met, an example for me would be AotBT, a lot of my friends like the pack because of the mods that it offers, but because it doesn't have Applied Energetics and Rei's Minimap, mods that I have grown used to and to a degree rely on the pack didn't appeal to me, to offer a middle ground I put together a smaller pack with a number of mods from AotBT and then a few community choices

Without the platform that wouldn't be an option because only 2 other people have the knowhow to install a new pack, so I'd be stuck going in to Teamviewer for every other user on every install and update

The main packs are there for a quick and easy solution, both the client and server are ready to go out of the box (mostly) while the platform, despite how it may seem, doesn't give people to power to make modpacks, they already had that, it lowers the bar for installation of that pack allowing a wider audience to experience it, that is what technic did for me before platform, it brought me in to modded minecraft

 

 

If I've misinterpreted the message of this topic then my apologies

[SemiPr0]

I'm going to drop this for now due to allowing for a certain level of incapability to accept the differences between Technic and Tekkit(_{Originally just Technic or} ^{Tekkit) Classic}/^{Tekkit Lite}/Tekkit (Naming conventions are very telling to how concentrated a project is).

 

I'm going to assign my basic incapability to accept the main build of Tekkit to a certain level of PEBKAC and a need to compare base tech mod builds side by side before understanding the depth of differences.

 

So perhaps this isn't a platform problem as much as it is a personal problem, I'm going to do what I can to expand on that and educate rather than continue to postulate....regardless if I find a direct reason to continue to hold the same opinions after having spent some time fully analyzing it all, I'll do that...but for now I'm going to spend some time reanalyzing Tekkit 1.2.6b as a central platform modpack.

Edited March 1, 2014 by SemiPr0

[Buttneck]

I, for one, am pissed that mods are even available at all. They have really diluted the userbase for Minecraft "Classic."

 

(I actually kept it short and sweet lol.)

Edited April 2, 2014 by Buttneck