It's dead Jim. No, really, it is.
The community is nothing but splintered into haves and have less than nothings. So starting out a newbie again is pointless now.
They have fixed a few minor things, but overall the game remains bloated and sinking fast.
It's still bloated gaming code. For crying out loud, with an Athlon XP 2500+, dual channel 1 gig DDR3200, and nVidia FX5600 256MB, I STILL can't even run with just ToA trees and terrain and water on???? Something is very wrong here. It's no high end system, but I should be able to handle that easily...
Questing is a pain still, even with the new yellow indicators on NPCs. You still have to remember where that NPC was when you got the quest.... Makes me appreciate WoW and Guild Wars' system a lot more.
It's such a pain to target mobs still... no real easy-pick system. You have to click... each... and... every... mob. Not to mention that telling if your pet has aggroed a mob.. or if you're still being chased.. is damn near impossible if you're not still staring right back at the mobs.
This game really got broken though with housing and the introduction of the /level command. Housing broke the community with the ability to have a crafting center in your own (guild) home. No longer did players congregate and chat or exchange know how with others. Why would you when you can hide in a hole and craft it alone?
Giving free Level 20 toons to players who had a level 50 was the dumbest move ever. All it did was create uber accounts with access to farming/salvaging/crafting/buff bots that improved the lot of the higher ups who have played since day one. Consequently, the lowbie areas are now... dead.
Then to beat the dead horse even more... they added "Free levels". In a week, if you've gained a level, you can get a free one. All of this defeats the ENTIRE POINT of having a 50 level system to me.
The game has some very awesome attributes, and I appreciate its pioneering, but it's time for it to die. Please, do not waste your time or money going back to it or starting it up now, when there are much better games out now.