Here are some thoughts on the packs for choice #1:
- LP1: Very gentle difficulty curve at the beginning, but I fear that a self-solving level as first level might not really represent the current culture well. Sorry to say, but the visuals are not a strong point of LP1.
- LPO: This is only a good starting pack, if you already know the original lemmings game. Only the new skills are introduced at the beginning.
- PimoLems: Again this does not introduce the skills properly. Level 2 is already a level with 6 hatches, 100% save requirement and a very restrictive skill set.
- MobiLems2: This is even worse than PimoLems: The very first level requires placing blockers and freeing them again by assigning walkers. The skillset is pretty restrictive, too. I really fear that new players will already be stumped by this first level.
- GeoffLems: As LP1 this has a very gentle difficulty curve with many levels introducing skills at the beginning (although not as pure as the L1 intro levels). In general the levels look nicer than the LP1 ones. Problem is, that this pack hasn't updated to the latest NL version yet.
PS: Just to be sure: I don't say that any of these packs are bad, just that some may not be a good choice for someone not having played lemmings before.
Why is using the new NeoLemmix objects/skills a criterium for pack recommendations here? The purpose of this recommendation is to get new players started.
I sort of get where you're coming from, but it is a very odd view IMHO to relegate the all the NeoLemmix-specific stuff as "not for new players", as if they are some scary stuff to be tackled only if you dare. Sure, maybe they don't belong on the first few levels, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be introduced early. It's not like original Lemmings wait until Mayhem to introduce some totally new game element that has never been featured earlier. Or imagine if one-way walls weren't introduced until Taxing.
I only wanted to ensure that we don't ignore packs just for the reason that they don't make use of new NL features.
As a side remark: Your last comparison doesn't make sense. Instead of introducing OWWs in Taxing, it is more like introducing the new Tribes skills in L2. I agree that every pack using new features should introduce them early, but there is no harm in not introducing what you don't need or starting NL by playing a pack that ignores some/all new objects/skills of NL.