This pack is basically the same as the original StoneBlock, but with some updates.

The quests in StoneBlock 2 are much better than the original game, as there are more of them, and FTB team replaced the previous questing system with the much improved FTB quests mod. Whilst the number of quests have increased, I felt there was a huge gap between some of the quests in certain mods, but other mods had many more mods covering the progression.

One key mod removed that was in the original version of the game was Refined Storage, though the pack still contains Applied Energistics 2. Whilst this might seem like a poor choice for the players who prefered the simplicity of Refined Storage, there was a valid reason for this, and this was down to the fact that Refined Storage had known performance problems, especially on multiplayer servers, so this would be a welcome change for players who joined servers and server owners.

Unfortunately, this is where the improvments stopped for me.

FTB introduced some new game mechanics, which seemed a little questionable to me.

Firstly, they added a mining world. You gained access to the mining world by ascending to the top of the stonefilled overworld. Reaching this mining world could be accomplished very early game by digging and pillaring up (or building a staircase upwards). Once you hit the magic Y level, you were teleported to a few blocks above the bedrock of the mining world. To return, simply drop down a block or two, and you were back at the top of the overworld. It might have been a great concept to include in a modpack, but it doesn’t really work in a ex-nihlo (“from nothing”) style of modpack where you are expected to perform some grind to start obtaining rare ores and drops. This mining world instantly felt “cheaty” allowing you to bypass early game progression. Perhaps this is a good thing if that’s how you like to play, but would you be playing an ex-nihlo style of pack if you didn’t like that early game grind? On my first play through, I did “cheat” using the mining world, and very quickly obtained resources required to build mid-to-late game items. This “cheaty” feel to the game though gave me an overwhelming feeling of having cheated and I lost the desire to play along any further, so I restarted in a new world, and avoided the superfluous mining world all together.

FTB introduced The End into this pack, which wasn’t present in the original game, though the experience was kind of strange. The end matched the overworld, in that it was larged a world filled with End Stone, with no Ender Dragon to be seen, however there was instead a “End Chicken” boss. The boss was very easy to defeat and my entire experience of The End felt like it added nothing to the game compared to the original.

Overall, it was a half-decent pack, and if you enjoy this style of gameplay, I’d recommend playing it through, though if you are looking for an experience that was an improvment over the original version of Stoneblock, then you may leave disappointed.