I would welcome a reconstruct but if all these changes were to be made, the fix wouldn't come easily and would require a lot of work.

Although I totally agree with OP as to the direction SE needs to go with this to make it challenging still while promoting a fair/casual/social aspect to battles in the game, I propose a much simpler solution.

1. Although it would be hard to take away myth without people complaining, it needs to be done. 80 per A? seriously, I can get enough for my next book while i'm on the hunt for my previous version. 2k cap is becoming a 2hr cap rate and it shouldn't be.
2. Place a marker on the beast. Give us an extra power much like you did with treasure hunts but instead of digging, we get to mark the beast we've found. First one to mark claims the possible book drops (on A at least) and starts a countdown. ie B marks get 30min ET time, A gets an hour, S gets 2. This would prevent zergs, give everyone a fair chance, and reward the player that found him first by giving them the possible drop by starting the timer. No more "reset," no more "early pulls," no more finger pointing just because you didn't make it there on time.
3. the linkshells are nice, hunts implemented more socializing among many and brought guilds together that would otherwise not talk. However, some are extremely active and others are not and sometimes people get left out. With number 2 implemented you can also implement a server wide call out. Like "Nahn was found, 29:55 minutes before activated!" and you don't even have to put the coordinates in, or not even a name, like "Aleport has issued a warning, heroes beware, 29:55 minutes before attack!" I know you like mystery!