A couple of concerning issues

[frogh]

I just noticed that by filing your guide I did not pick up the fighter's guild questline nor the mages guild questline.

I've been picking up lore books but since I don't have the mage guild quest I guess its for nothing?

[ZG Support 1]

The lorebooks will still count toward the mage guild level even if you haven't joined it yet. Once you join the mage guild all the books you picked up already will give you guild XP right away. You'll know there is a definite problem if the guide tries to send you to do the fighters guild quest stuff with Merrick without sending you to join the fighters guild first.