The spires were virtually required. Why? Because each expansion kept making the world bigger and bigger and bigger which was spreading players out too much. This had these effects:
1) Makes it harder to form a group because have to travel further
2) Spreads out players thinly so they see and interact with others less
So: The spires actually improved the community. Believe it or not.
A lot of players say it was better when everybody bartered or sold things in EC or GF. But what they miss is the extensive use of the forums for trading. Many players on p1999 use the forums to sell their stuff! So the talk about it improving the community is untrue, since so many are choosing to use the forums. I would not be surprised if this was true back when Velious was live. Forums were invented long ago.
Right there I just shot down two the popular reasons Luclin is hated.
BUT I agree SOME of the player models suck. Some of the animations attached to them suck too. Moreso, the number of polygons in the environments/models was greatly increased and doesn't jive well with the much lower poly areas in pre-luclin zones. So on a purely visual stance, Luclin is a huge departure from the older game.
I also agree the CHARACTER of the zones/races/monsters changed. The names were strange, like someone else said
Barg Berg Xar Fiend XI. There were creatures that resembled aliens. In general, a lot of the creatures and enviros were strange. It reminds me a lot of later expansions like GOD and OOW. I did not like the
feel of the visuals in Luclin/God/Oow/etc. Reminds me of Morrowind too - had a lot of strange things.
Someone said they added ZEMs immediately prior or after Luclin. I agree this did have an appreciable affect on the population in older zones. It moved a lot of players into Luclin or Kunark, leaving older zones more empty. The Paludal Caverns is a wonderful example. Not only did it have a high ZEM, but it was nextdoor to a city AND the bazaar. There're also many cases where ZEMs moved players from one segemnt of the old world to another, meaning parts of the old world were more empty than others.
Regarding Paludal Caverns:
- Older zones had alreayd been destroyed somewhat by the ease with which players could buy kunark/velious armor/weapons/etc. Items received in older zones and quests were almost worthless by comparison, meaning the sense of reward was diminished. This happened before Luclin launched.
- For a new player who wasn't a cat to get to Paludal Caverns they had to find a spire which meant some potentially dangerous travelling. They also had to find a bind, as Soulbinders weren't available yet. It was really only older players who took full advantage of the Paludal Caverns. This of course is what would happen on p1999 since so many here know the game so well. However, some might stay in the old world anyway since even with Luclin p1999 is still the most genuine progression server in existence.
- Paludal Caverns usually was full. So players would spread out a bit on the assumption it was full. This didn't stop a lot of players from moving to Luclin anyway to level up. It kept some in old world.
Those are my thoughts.