Volume I Book II Thoughts

[SniperCT]

So I have had some observations about Volume 1 Book 2 for.... well since beta.

And I guess after the umpteenth alt running through it (been running a couple alts through volume 1 before Anor closes) I feel compelled to make a post about it.

The long and the short of it is the book

a) feels disjointed, like the book is actually 2 different books

b) kind of ends abruptly and rather unsatisfactorily.

The first half of the book is Weathertop which was pretty great, and then you're abruptly tossed into this completely separate and random storyline helping out Radagast. And then it ends just as it gets really interesting. If you're moving onto the next book or area, you could end up missing the true conclusion to this storyline.

And I consider the actual Red Maid storyline as one of my favorite non-epics.

Honestly the only suggestion I can give that doesn't involve retooling the whole thing to focus more on the red maid (and would require the least amount of work) would be a breadcrumb from Hana at the end with an "Epilogue" tag, and tag all the red maid stuff up to and including the dungeon to be an epilogue.

It would not be a part of 'completing' book 2 for the epic volume meta deeds, acting a bit like how volume 2's epilogue was detached from being required, but would clue new (and old players coming through it again) into how to continue the story of the red maid.

[Halphast]

I felt like the story was continuous enough after Weathertop, but I agree that it is really strange for all of your landscape quests to continue the Red Maid story while the Epic suddenly concludes with "This situation is dire! Oh well, take this backpack to my sister."

Another thing I would change is don't make the book 3 foreword available until after book 2. I remember being so confused when I first came to Ost Guruth and the first epic quest I saw was sending me to the North Downs. :/ Better to have the Book 3 Foreword start with Radagast in the red swamp, where you're actually finishing up book 2.

[SniperCT]

I felt like the story was continuous enough after Weathertop, but I agree that it is really strange for all of your landscape quests to continue the Red Maid story while the Epic suddenly concludes with "This situation is dire! Oh well, take this backpack to my sister."

Another thing I would change is don't make the book 3 foreword available until after book 2. I remember being so confused when I first came to Ost Guruth and the first epic quest I saw was sending me to the North Downs. :/ Better to have the Book 3 Foreword start with Radagast in the red swamp, where you're actually finishing up book 2.

They do try to make it so most of the books are 100% required to start the next, but I'd agree that moving the book 3 forward might be a good idea so you get at least somewhere through book 2 first.

[Vilan]

Another possibility is adding a chapter with a solo version of Red Maid. Maybe just the final fight, they've already made a re-tooled version for spring festival. Throw in Radagast as a helper NPC. But the epilogue idea has merit too.

[Phantion]

Another possibility is adding a chapter with a solo version of Red Maid. Maybe just the final fight, they've already made a re-tooled version for spring festival. Throw in Radagast as a helper NPC. But the epilogue idea has merit too.

Yeah and have Ivar the Blood-hand there instead of in the barrows area so both of them are thwarted in a concise way. Ditto to the OP on that book confusing me, especially when I first started playing back in 2011. It was like "we've staved off Ivar and then . . . forgot he ever existed."

Cheers!

[MariaFinkel]

Uhmm, it is still bothering me that the 3rd book is available before the 2nd one is done. I become confused sometimes, thinking this miss click could be eliminated already. I like to read books of different genres, from scientific to fiction and gaming ones. However, I hate writing papers for my academic assignments. I am stressed because of the fear of how the public will perceive my creation. Fortunately, on https://graduateway.com/read-my-essay/ I submit my text and this service can read my essay, so I know in advance how my colleagues will listen to my written work. That way, there's a chance that one day I'll enjoy reading books and writing essays based on them with equal pleasure.

[ertr]

Uhmm, it is still bothering me that the 3rd book is available before the 2nd one to be done. I become confused sometimes when playing, thinking this miss click would be eliminated already.

This is a feature rather than a bug. It lets you skip Book 2 if you wish, and start directly with the (unconnected) Book 3.
Similarily you can start Book 4 without doing any of the previous parts of the Epic, or Book 6 without doing Books 1-5 first. It is intentional to have multiple "on-ramps" to the Epic when that can be done without messing up the story.