Some of us still play DAOC.

In any case, the new servers go live on the 12th for people with active accounts on the 1st, and then open on the 14th for everyone else.

There are two things that make the "classic" servers, Gareth and Lamorak unique. One is the not being able to port to Atlantis. The other is that all concentration buffs can only be placed on people in your group and buffs will have a range of 5000 units, past which they'll quit working, much like Midgard's endurance regen now.

The /level command will be disabled, and the free level timer will be set to 7 days.

While a thane is perfectly viable in the hands of a skilled player, most groups shun them and a poor player does much more harm than good with one. Due to the no-buff bot rule, stealthers will be a lot less viable as a soloer.