Quark was designed around a "vanilla-plus" philosophy:
This is the million-dollar question. With Quark for 1.20.4 offering dramatically more features (e.g., Cave biomes, Crab legs, Trowel improvements), is the 1.7.10 version obsolete?
No. Here is why:
It is crucial to note that Quark 1.7.10 is not as feature-rich as its modern counterparts. Vazkii backported many features, but this version represents an earlier stage of the mod. Nonetheless, what is present is pure gold.
Do not expect:
The 1.7.10 branch is roughly feature-frozen around Quark’s early days. It’s still incredibly useful, but it’s a seasoning, not a main course.
As of late 2024, the backport is considered feature-complete. No new features from official Quark (v3.x for 1.19) will be added because the codebase diverged too heavily. However, the existing version is stable for thousands of players running private servers and single-player worlds. quark mod 1.7.10
Community patches are still welcome—especially for compatibility with GregTech: New Horizons (GTNH), one of the largest 1.7.10 packs. In fact, GTNH 2.4.0+ includes an early version of Quark 1.7.10 by default (under "QoL" mods).