Warning in advance: The points I will raise here have been said before by others on more than one occasion - in particular there was a thread on this in the Lammania forums back when Epic Orchard was in preview.

I'm happy to do the power chasing thing that we all do nowadays, but I do rather like the storylines of a number of the older adventure packs (I think Vault of Night is great - I'm not just saying this because I finally pulled the Shard of the Sword of Shadow tonight after gawdknows how many runs, but that has put me in a good mood :P), and enjoy playing through these. It was before my time, but I know that the game world has suddenly changed a number of times to accommodate story elements (the Devil Invasion being the obvious one, but also e.g. the random NPCs that disappeared when the Harbinger of Madness chain was introduced).

The Necropolis packs have the potential to be a really great story arc, but the permanent changes that took place way back in Module 5 have broken the arc's cohesiveness from a storytelling perspective, and the current layout is also confusing to new players (case in point: this 5-year-old thread). Personally, it's taken me a couple of years of play to really engage with the arc and start enjoying it, and that's really only because I've filled in the story blanks outside of game.

Much of this could be easily fixed without any changes to the actual quests themselves.

For example: Who is Kai-Teng? What was his betrayal (as referenced in the "Litany of the Dead" riddle)? Until we meet the vorpal-blade swinging miniboss in person, all we hear nowadays is a single line from an NPC:

Yanoush the Dour: "I've got all these supplies to hand out, but Master Kai-Teng ordered me to keep the boxes sealed. He's been acting really weirdly, I'm starting to get worried there's something really bad coming soon."

Where is Dame Calla Swiftmare when Fram Redbones suggests you to talk to her (during Necro I)?

Fram Redbones: "Well met. I am Fram Redbones, loyal paladin of the Silver Flame. Dame Calla has tasked me with ensuring the guardian in the Tomb of the Crimson Heart is taken care of, so we can proceed to the crypt."
Fram Redbones: "You've never heard the tale of the Necropolis? My, I thought everyone in Stormreach knew about the Black Abbot. Well, I don't have time to explain it right now, I need to recruit some folks to take down this mummy. If you want to know more about the Abbot, go talk to Dame Calla Swiftmare, she'll explain everything."

Oh, so Dame Calla disappeared into the Shadow Crypt? But The Shadow Crypt isn't actually open until we defeat the 4 mummy guardians:
Korryon: "Without Dame Calla's permission I can't release more supplies. Since she's ventured into the Shadow Crypt with the Council I don't expect I'll be getting it soon. Speak with Ninevah. She can help you with provisions."

Yes, it's all incredibly minor stuff, but improving this would give a much better story to players.

So, what could be done? Well, I'd suggest...

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1) Create a clear chain-giver for each arc - if not the whole series - so that there is a single entry point for new players. Also, place the chain-givers in a logical order, it is odd that at present the closest quest giver to the entrance is for one of the more advanced quests. Definitely keep the Silver Flame/Emerald Claw camps, though, as their cliquishness and distrust of each other is part of the story. The chain-giver doesn't even need to give a reward, but should guide the player on which quest to do next.

I would suggest putting the chain-giver for Necro I at the entrance of the Necropolis, for Necro II near the nugget providers, and the Necro III one next to the Farshifter... or some other logical order.

2) Reinstate Dame Calla Swiftmare and Kai-Teng Fairuza to the two camps, at least at the very start (perhaps these could be the chain-givers for Necro II and III respectively?)

Make them disappear when appropriate in the storyline. Dame Calla should disappear once you are to enter The Shadow Crypt, and Kai-Teng should disappear after you complete and turn in The Cursed Crypt - if either of them are chain givers, replace the with a different character for the final turn-in, similar to how it works for e.g. Lords of Dust or Fall of Truth). These characters are both important to the story behind the whole chain, and it'd be good to re-introduce them as they were pre-Module 5.

3) Add Dame Calla's journal (http://ddowiki.com/page/Dame_Calla_S...alla_Swiftmare), and perhaps some of the details from the Module 3, patch 2 release Notes somewhere in the Necropolis/Orchard/Quests to give a bit of background lore.

4) Reconsider the Sigil Flagging mechanism: I thik this should be kept in some form, but made slightly more player friendly. Possible solutions:
i) Make the sigil a permanent item (so once assembled once, it lasts permanently through TR without "using" up one of each part for every life), much like the Sigil of Dal Quor for the Twilight Forge.
ii) Unbind the sigil components to allow trading - just as tapestries, shield components and tome pages are.
iii) Allow a chance for sigil fragments 5-8 to appear in the turn-in rewards for the 4 orchard quests, and to be guaranteed on a third repeat.

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And then whilst we're at it, two very small things that are quite inconsequential, but show the age of the content:

5) Update (or remove) Squire Rale's dialogue, as 2/3rds of the entries are out of date (this affects almost every item, but a few examples: the stats given for the Signet of the Silver Flame are all wrong, and it still refers to Beignin's Breath, which has been long since superseded by Benign Breath)

6) Fix Kaltrop's dialogue - you can request info on prophets from him, but he will only tell you about Salasso, and will say that the other two are unknown (when other Necropolis residents seem very up-to-date on them). I assume he was added with Necro I and never updated.

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There, I've got it off my chest now