Some of my favorite mods and packs are from the 1.7.10 era. I once put together a private server pack than included AE2, most of Reika's mods (Rotarycraft, Reactorcraft, Electricraft and Chromaticraft), and assortment of magic mods and some lesser known or lesser used mods. Admittedly some of the latter were really buggy (for example Essentialcraft), but were usually weird or fun enough to keep despite that.

Once upon a time I played on a Harry Potter themed modded server ran by Megachunk. I started out with a little house in a field with a fenced in yard, the usual sort of thing. People kept finding ways to steal from me or grief me. So I kept improving security. By the end of the server, no one but me and three others could enter my inner sanctum without being slaughtered, and even if they could enter they couldn't interact with anything. Everything was covered by overlapping Pneumaticraft Security Stations encased in Thaumcraft Warded Glass. The area was utterly covered in Witchery Sentinel fetishes loaded with spectres in the spirit world, and those in turn were protected by Security Stations and all of it encased in Warded Glass to keep those from getting messed with. If you entered my base, you died, GTFO. Turned out spectres could also kill players in creative mode, so that included staff.