Tech Tree Expansion

Game designers who are working on constantly-updating games (like Minecraft) have a tendency to expand something in the middle of the tech tree when they don't have any other creative ideas.  This tendency is what creates tedium and unnecessary complication.  Occasionally, it is good to provide a little fork in the tree that provides better efficiency after an investment, but rejoins the existing tree quickly.  For example, I just whipped up an "Inert Pearl" for HigherPower which is now required to make the Sign Pearl and Painting Pearl in the Ender Modifier.  The normal crafting recipe still uses standard Ender Pearls, so the change will only affect teched-up users that have an Ender Modifier.  The advantage to using Inert Pearls is that two IPs can be made for the price of one EP, given the player has access to the End.  However, HigherPower has not been publicly released, so nobody will notice that I made the Ender Modifier slightly more annoying (though that obviously was not my intent).  The point is, don't just add detail to the tech tree for the sake of pushing an update.  Offshoots that accomplish cool little tasks are great, but inserting processes in the tree just annoys the players.