#let this be me talking you into playing a modpack with a progression system btw

[theminecraftbee]

more seriously i'm realizing the thing that makes it hard to go back to vanilla minecraft for me is that vault hunters, and then modded as a whole, is way less... self-guided than vanilla. like, okay, no, you can play modded in a very free, self-guided way, like if you just install create and go ham the progression is very similar to vanilla. but in something like vault hunters or another modpack, there are often quest systems that give you concrete goals as you go that help like... scaffold what you're doing. it makes it easier for my brain to latch on to. but it's not just that; it's ALSO that, by the nature of certain things in modded, i have ways to set my own progression goals WELL PAST the 'endgame' of minecraft that aren't just 'build a really big thing', and give me a sense of being Better and More Efficient now.

like, okay. in my current vault hunters playthrough i am level 90. i have been playing since like, september i think? normally by now in vanilla i've hit endgame and don't really need anything else and then i quit. but in vault hunters, even though i've very reached endgame there, i have things i can do that will give me a real sense of Actual Progression. on the vault hunters end, my Actual Progression goal is to make my divine paradox vault as good as possible and unlock some of the god armor transmogs. on the modded end, i am DEEP in mekanism and can go 'well, if i make a fusion reactor i can make antimatter, which will make me REALLY post-scarcity, but also means i'll be generating power that doesn't risk exploding and is more effective than my current fission reactor is. maybe i'll quintuple ores while i'm at it.'

and yeah, those are ALSO an unnecessary self-directed goals! they're basically the equivalent of 'i should build a megabase' in terms of absurd resource grind and being unnecessary! but at the end i get something Tangible that makes me Better At Game, which makes it feel like i'm accomplishing something a little better than giant builds tend to for me. like, at the end of my god altar arbitrary goal, i get something. at the end of my mekanism arbitrary goal, i get something. but ALSO i get something at every grindy step along the way, too, and at least FOR ME, modded is better than vanilla at giving me rewards for my progress?

and this isn't me saying there SHOULD be more 'rewards' for progress in vanilla minecraft; part of the whole POINT of minecraft is that it's open-ended and self-driven. it's just that that's also the reason that the moment i make it to the end in one of my minecraft playthroughs i'm like. well i could grind for netherite but i don't like building that much so i guess it's time to pack it up and do something else instead. for someone else, having so many concrete goals would feel railroady and break the 'progression', or lack thereof, of vanilla minecraft! i get that.

they're different playstyles and it makes perfect sense why someone might prefer one to the other is what i'm saying, but like, if you've only ever tried to play modded in packs WITHOUT a quest or progression system to help guide you, let this be me saying "no i actually think that's an integral part of the first time playing modded experience in order to GET why people like modded", yeah?