The remodeling did nothing for the experience. The original walls and rickety wooden structures fit the mood and looked a lot better. The stone wall inset looks ridiculous. I have enjoyed going in and redoing the tutorial because it was just plain fun and a great zone. That is so messy and hard to see in I'll just start at the old zones again.
IMO, get rid of the whole zone and put basic armor questing at home cities. We have PoK for travel if we need to gather with our boxes or friends. However I can understand it's easier to have one central zone rather than multiple starting quest hubs. Just would like to see the starting cities used more.
I like the tutorial and use it every time I make a new charc. I use it to refresh my memory of the old ways and grab some cool items (haste stick) Plus it helps me learn a little on how to play that class as the point of the tutorial is to teach newcomers and others how to play ie: chat, grouping, mercs, killing, banking, quests etc. Then they move on to other zones. There is the option to skip tutorial and do basic (level 1) armor in all zones.
As a frequent visitor I think the remodel looks nice, but I have preferred new content in there instead. I know it to bridge a new player into CR, but I would have like an expansion into level 15 or 20.
I tried it with a new character. A half-elf druid. I couldn't see over the foliage and had to hunt for some of the NPCs. Great idea ! And the mines now look better, more like it was partially constructed. I like it.
Revamp everything. Progression is for nostalgia. Thoughtfully, with purpose. Without changing the size of the zone (nektulos 1.0 vs. 2.0... yikes). Hopefully while adding new things (i.e., a revamped Lower Fay could connect to a bunch of new zones). Haven't been in revised Gloomingdeep yet. Maybe I like it, maybe I don't --but I appreciate the effort.
I started a Dark Elf Mage in there, and it took me nearly an hour to encounter 4 Cave Bats for the first quest. Also, I had trouble seeing some NPCs and background. My first thought was "No more new chars for me".
