Asheron's Call: Throne of Destiny Preview

The guys at Stratics have published a hands-on preview of Turbine's Asheron's Call: Throne of Destiny expansion pack. An excerpt to follow:
One thing that makes me happy is the lock added to abilities sliders to keep one skill from dropping while raising another. No new skills, so moving right along. There are two new hairstyles, completely new faces, eye colors, and a brightness adjuster for hair color. And Viamontians can don a lovely berèt in their clothing options. Then there are four starting cities to begin from with Sanamar joining the lineup. And when you hit Create you appear in the training dungeon instead of an outskirt of the city now. But that doesn't mean its mandatory. In fact, now you can simply talk to one man to receive all your newbie starter equipment with the experience and portal right back out into your starter town. If you choose to take part in the training dungeon, you'll find the tasks remain the same, but the location is new. And that instead of Minions, it might be an Olthoi swarm you have the pleasure of fighting as your first enemy.