What's the trigger for act two

[Unluck]

Not looking for spoilers but I'm currently in the Underdark looking for the Nightsong. I just wanted to see if exploring down here will lock me out of anything that I still need to do in act 1. Thanks ahead of time for any responses!

[YosemiteBear]

underdark is act 1

[SickFish]

There will be a prompt informing you that you should make sure you're done with quests in the transition from Act 1 to 2. All of the Underdark is Ac 1.

[Kryldost]

Act 2 starts officially when you reach the nightsong itself. Before that you can access everything in act 1. BUT! If you reach the shadowcursed land and want to keep halsin, dont leave them :)

[Underlaw]

Everytime you change the act, there is a warning telling "you will not come back after traveling there, all quests will be permanent, are you sure to travel?"
If this is not displayed, you are not to change acts.

[Carynara]

Yeah you can't miss it. When the warning is up, you can say no and still have a chance to tie up loose ends. (Much like the Mountain Pass warning when you left Act 1).

[Xenomorph Kitty]

Originally posted by Kryldost:

Act 2 starts officially when you reach the nightsong itself. Before that you can access everything in act 1. BUT! If you reach the shadowcursed land and want to keep halsin, dont leave them :)

This is false.

Act 1 is the Grove, Goblin Camp, Waukeens Rest, Mountain pass and Monastery, Underdark, Gyrmforge.

Act 2 starts proper when you enter the shadowcursed lands. However if you miss the mountain pass and monastery, or the underdark stuff you can go back to do them at any point including fast travelling and long resting with no issue.

As I did this myself. And Halsin stayed with me in camp the entire time.

The only thing that will end quests early in Act 2 is Going into the shadowfell to find Nightsong. But you get a big ol'popup in your face warning you beforehand.

[FoxFox]

Originally posted by Underlaw:

Everytime you change the act, there is a warning telling "you will not come back after traveling there, all quests will be permanent, are you sure to travel?"
If this is not displayed, you are not to change acts.

Yeah but those prompt aren't always true, that is, they are premature. If you take the high road you are prompted like that, but afaik you can still go back to the starting area and no quests will be affected. Entering the Shadowlands either from the Underdark or by the alternative route does affect the game afaik.

If you are in the underground temple of Shar, there is a point of no return there, but I'm not sure how that affects unfinished quests. It's safer to make sure you really finished all quests in the Shadowlands you want to complete. The Act 2 boss fight is certainly a point of no return and will cause you to fail most quests that you can finish in the Shadowlands.

Unfortunately, it is not always clear which quests those are. Rescuing certain NPCs can only be done before you find Nightsong, others you will see during the boss fight after Nightsong and 1 NPC can only be found in Act 3.

[FoxFox]

Originally posted by YosemiteBear:

underdark is act 1

yes, but the underground temple is technically also in the Underdark. You can even see it from the Underdark, but you can't reach it from there.

[Matt Murdock]

Game will tell you about if you are sure with continue and it will warn you..dont worry. I recommend you try after underdark go to the second location wich was for choose that hills or whatever is that name and there will be very easy to find out where act 2 begining

[Unluck]

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I appreciate the info!