Minecraft is a vast survival sandbox game, and in its most basic game mode, you enter a nearly endless, three-dimensional world where you need to survive against various dangers and progress to complete the mysterious story. However, the title is also popular for its mods, which can help you customize your experience.
When talking about the best way to play Minecraft, I believe it's with vanilla-friendly mods. Here's why.
Note: Aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the writer's opinion.
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Reasons why the best way to play Minecraft is with vanilla-friendly mods
Vanilla-friendly mods are minimalistic and make players' lives easier

Playing the game with vanilla-friendly mods is a great balance between enhancing the gameplay while still keeping the essence of the original game. Performance mods, map mods, crafting recipe mods, food item information mods, etc., can be considered vanilla-friendly mods.
The picture above shows two kinds of mods that do not add any new blocks, items, structures, or mobs to the game, but they drastically enhance the original gameplay.
Performance mods like Sodium might have too many video settings, but it's still considered a relatively simple mod that drastically improves your experience. A map mod like JourneyMap can bring a minimap and a full-page map, allowing you to see where you're heading and observe your surroundings.
This is one of the main reasons why playing Minecraft with vanilla-friendly mods is great.
Both beginners and veterans can enjoy Minecraft with vanilla-friendly mods

It's safe to say that playing Minecraft with vanilla-friendly mods is great for both beginners and veterans. Those who are new to the game will greatly appreciate these mods that add useful features without changing the original experience of the game.
Maps can help beginners navigate the world, performance mods allow the game to run on low-end devices, and shaders can make the game look a lot prettier.
On the other hand, even veterans, who have enjoyed various kinds of mods in the past, will feel a sense of nostalgia by playing the original game with some useful mods that improve the performance and visuals.
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