While I like the content of the expansion, lore wise...isn't this entire expansion just a distraction from the Prophecy? Al'Kabor sends us looking for information on getting Leandra back. We wander around the dragon afterlife, do the usual and deprive Kerafyrm of the Tear of Veeshan (we think, there could be more of them). Oh, and we're told to get on with things and Leandra will take care of herself thank you very much. We're doing this instead of: Picking up the shattered pieces of the Combine Army (which we might be able to salvage since the majority of the soldiers think its important), defending the 2 major cities from the Awakened attack (which is admittedly a distraction from the Prophecy. Still, it wouldn't hurt to have a public quest style event to do a little dragon killing in commonlands/antonica), finding out what Mayong is doing, getting Theer firmly on our side, figuring out how to slay Kerafyrm/deal with Godslaying powers, helping out what is left of the Claws of Veeshan or doing anything else that would advance us towards ending the End of Ages Prophecy. So, anyone see this expansion as anything other than filler? Please give reasons why its significant to the storyline of EQ2.
Maybe everything isn't done yet? They could be breaking up the story parts in pieces and release them a bit at a time so everyone doesn't just rush through. Of course, that could be wishful thinking on my part...
This is how it is signifigant: We know now what Kera was after, and it wasn't Lendaria. it was more Tears. Al'Kabor sent us there not to find lendaria, but to get counsel from Yelinak on who should lead the Dragons, and try to splint the Combine back together. (Remember it was only becuase of Yelinak that Lucan even agreed in the first place, good luck trying to get him to agree without the dragons literally breathing down his neck) and Antonia isn't likely to rejoin without a similar threat/push becuase of Vishra's death and the reveal of who he was to her. This expansion, so far, is us stopping Kera from getting an instant 'I win' button across ALL versions of reality. It tells us what he did with the Tear, and why. though I'm sure not all the raid content is done so who knows what we might learn yet, but this will be, probably, a sever weakening of Kera's power at his disposal, both personal (the Tear) and military (the ToV legions/leaders) I wouldn't be surprised if our presence/actions in Ethernere are the reason why Qeynos and Freeport are even able to hold their barriers. because Kera's army is dealing with us and the rousing/rallying of Harla/Woushi/Yelinak/the two Crusaders against him. We need the Dragons to reunite the Combine. especailly Freeport and Qeynos. to do that, we needed to talk to Yelinak to find a suitable leader. he of course says Lendaria, becuase he didn't know what happened to her in CS. to continue to search for her, we needed to help the Steward so we could have 'permission' to stay in Ethernere. then we found the nexus, got it working, found Lendaria but she can't come back to us, though she is getting aid to that end. we were only able to communicate with her, not pull her over...only to find that the Nexus is what Kera came to get. 3 more Tears and the ability to cross realites at will. So we stop that plan, and we'll presumably in the raid zone tov destroy the Tear and force Kera back to Norrath proper rather then his 'safe from all possible powers' fortress in Ethernere. remember even the Gods can't come to Ethernere directly. Kera being able to stay in Ethernere gave him a perfect place to master his powers, and strike at both mortal and god alike and have a hit and run fallback position. we're going to strip him of that and probably make him a lot more vulnerable without the Tear.
We destroy a total of 4 Tears in the quest line, regardless of zone version, so the raid zone isn't lore-critical I suspect.
