Question the first. What is the issue with the dialogue.tlk? I know that without changing it, one cannot name new spells. Are there those out there who can and have done it? If it works on one person's game, can it not be assumed that it will operate on other's with the proper versions?

Question the second, related because i saw it mentioned in a post about new spells. Why are there so many out there who avoid hakpacks like the plague? Does it pose too many compatibiliy issues?

I can't answer Question the First - I know very little about that.

Question the Second - Many people do not use hak files partially because it involves more downloading, and partially because many of them are not needed. The toolset has almost anything you could want, and so people feel they aren't needed. Also, there are some compatibility problems with using ones made with older versions of NWN on mre recent versions. Although the haks still run, I have found that creatures added with later patches will not work.

so people prefer to take what the toolset gives them and stick to .mod's?