I too was disappointed with this start to Episode 2.
I went to see the new "old lands" and was surprised to find only a small island of desert landscape with few interesting features. I assume we will get more lands later, but I fear they will also be small pockets of not-so-new scenery. I had hoped for new stuff, cool sky, textures, new vegetation, maybe even a new mob. Nope. Basically just the same old stuff, reworked. The only things really worth looking at were the camps.
I didn't take the temple-building missions (being neutral

) but did try to dig. I could dig below the hilltop "arena" but couldn't dig up top (desert forage only 53). The new mission mats weren't all that "new" either, basically just new names to the same stuff.
I did manage to get myself killed a few times, in various ways.

The Kinchers and Kipesta were pretty nasty but gave me good xp.
The people fighting seemed to be enjoying it; just not my cup of tea.
All in all, it left me wondering why it took so long to bring out Episode 2.
So I went and I saw, but now I'll go back to my regular stuff.
The regions are even quieter now, if you can imagine.
