I am constantly on the lookout for THE modpack that will finally make me forget to sleep. I haven't found it yet.
I typically can't stand mods that drastically change recipes just to slow you down at the beginning, but I also realize that if they don't do that you just go mine up a bunch of shit with an iron pickaxe and immediately start making ore-doubling machines and sorting systems, etc. So in that respect, SevTech Ages is probably my favorite of these types. It slows you down at the beginning and makes you use those shitty chests and such, but not too long down the line you get access to regular chests and most of the goodies you're used to. I honestly can't stand All The Mods and Skyblocks because of how it makes you use that retarded fucking system of the heater and casing and blah blah. As far as I can see, you never get to a point where that system isn't used, but SevTech you do get to more familiar crafting eventually.
I don't know how many of you regularly watch Minecraft videos, but I am really liking the guy that I mentioned earlier in this thread, ToAsgaard (not shilling).
To Asgaard
I've found that Direwolf20, while still decent for the most part, is actually sort of retarded a lot of the time. If Soaryn is on the server with him, I almost can't fucking watch because he never ever shuts the fuck up, and his Kermit the Frog voice triggers the fuck out of me. Pahimar is pretty funny because he gets annoyed with Dire, and I don't blame him because Direwolf20 is one of the worst team players ever. All he cares about is what he's doing, what he's saying, what he's focused on. He literally cuts other people off that are saying something interesting just to talk about what he's doing. And doesn't listen when he isn't talking. And doesn't read quest text that would have told him exactly what he needs to do. And doesn't know a lot of the mods as well as he thinks he does, and rarely actually researches or tests things before the episode, and ends up looking retarded compared to people that know their shit. And his idea of fancy is building with sandstone instead of cobblestone.
Anyway, I have almost completely dropped everyone I've tried to watch, DW20, Hypnotized, ChosenArchitect, countless others I can't remember the name of. ToAsgaard is the only one I still watch, because not only does he know what the fuck he's doing most of the time, but he also spends a fuckton more time off-camera making shit look good than anyone else I've found. I get tired of seeing shitty 9x9s. This guy actually builds shit that I would love to have the creativity for. He's definitely slightly autistic, and has a prominent southern twang, and can be weird about certain things (opening and closing doors), but in the end you know that not only is his shit likely to work the way it is supposed to, but it will look fucking awesome too. I rarely have the time (or ambition) to play Minecraft the way I want to nowadays, so watching his videos is kind of a good substitute because I know I'd never in a million years be able to come up with some of the designs he does, nor would I have the patience to grind out thousands of blocks that will only be used to make something look pretty. My shit ends up looking way more like DW20s ugly 9x9s than this guy's. Maybe if I were retired and not that rich I could develop the same skills he has, but until then I just watch and enjoy.