Some thoughts on where we are going...

[yottabyte]

Tekkit doesn't build a stable community. If you look at the large Tekkit servers there are, it's pretty much just people new to the modpack who want to try everything out. Once they have the best armor, stacks of diamond blocks etc they get bored really quickly (quicker than vanilla I'm sure) and quit the server. By that time, new players have joined due to the server's popularity. It's not as simple as to just include a .jar file as you're not allowed to give out any client files. That's why client mods are often a mess for people to install.

The problem isn't the fact that we stay with server sided mods. Have a look around at a lot of successful servers today like GhostCraft, MineZ, Project Ares just to name a few. They all make large changes to how the game works and create a unique experience without any client mods.

The fort idea wouldn't concentrate all the people around one area. People could still build their towns peacefully or gather resources far away from the fort area. I agree that it has flaws but I believe they can be worked out.

Not all buildings are traps and defenses. Traps and such are fun but if you face it, they're pretty worthless. One could build a huge lava moat with big obsidian walls and guard posts but people could just enderball over the defenses.

With this new fort idea, the traps and defenses would go around the fort you desperately want to protect. They'd have to be quick builds, probably less than an hour. Yeah, I'm thinking siege warfare like Guild Wars 2 WvWvW.