"a bit much " ? What is supposed to happen in acts 2-4 ? Do we fight actual gods in the last act, having left behind measly mindflayers, dragons, beholders and so on ? What would be wrong with a bit of an excitement curve ? Why not slowly ease us into it ?
Sure, "escaping from mind flayers" is a bit over the top in terms of how to start a campaign, and not something I would do in a PnP game, but after that, we do "slowly ease into it."
