Some people said to me, here, it could be better to start this game without any pack, without using DF Hack, just the base game and (eventually) a graphic pack.
I thought I'll do as they said but... This game has enough complex things in it... I read about 600 pages of text, looked at tenth of hours videos since I looked into this game, a month ago... and I still have trouble to make a proper fortress (I do admit I had little time to play since 15 days anyway ).
This pack helped me A BUNCH... no headache trying to configure proprely things, sound in game, a few improved screen (I particularly like the Therapist like job manager in game), a few automatons and helping shorcuts (like the Ctrl+D in any workshop to duplicate)... many things coming with DF Hacks... and later when I reached 40 or more dwarves, a little of Therapist... (I don't like Autolabor so much because it do everything for you... Thing you can have with therapist optimiser too but...).
Anyway, I don't think your pack made me lazy, it just avoided I spend 10th of hours looking for guide to install and make things working correctly, time I were able to spend to actually learn the game mechanics through videos and books.
Continue your great job!
You are right. Its usually a case of elitism in a cult following of a game, people who for some reason believe that using ASCII graphics in a computer game makes any difference to their worth as a human being on this tiny blue speck in the galactic ocean we inhabit..
I also, like you, spent tens of hours watching lets plays and tutorials, reading wikis and guides to actually learn the game and interface.
I can't say it was "worth it", IF the current status of DF Hack and the other great things (TextWillBeText, MultiLevel, Vein mining etc) existed then, to learn the "vanilla way".
I wish i was as lucky as new players are today. The game is in a far far far better state, more playable and accessible than ever (it is a good word, it doesnt mean that a game is an iPad game with 2 buttons). If this very pack was my first experience with Dwarf Fortress, things would have gone a lot smoother and saved me many hours of headache and confusion searching archaic threads on the forums, for info and knowledge that today is utterly useless anyway due to how the game changes (for the better).
So yes, i agree. Bloody good job that this pack exists and continued what LNP did.
There is no reason to live in the past, some things were not better before. Vanilla Dwarf Fortress certainly was not better before than it is now with all the community created features.