Those old areas were written at a time when growth was critical and the mud needed rapid expansion so they are pretty bare compared to the newer revamps.
Obviously the MUD doesn't need masses of areas now and hasn't needed them for a while but being able to write/append/navigate around an area file is a vital skill for any imm to have and is a major part of the game.
One by one those old areas are being reworked and taken out. Seantryn would be a major project. That's likely to be the only reason it hasn't been reworked yet. Trying to implement description heavy areas for something the size of Seantryn would take a while. If it was a collaborative job it might take 3-6 months utilizing the staff on hand, but opportunity cost also comes into play. 6 months with 3 or 4 staff working around the clock is a lot of time and effort that could be spent elsewhere.
There is also a benefit to designing an area around existing fantasy themes/works. It's easier to design and write an area when you don't need to flesh out 3 new factions, a storyline, lore and so on. It's something players who were reading the books at the time could walk right into and get excited over, because they're robbing the Empress, and taking her dagger. Or fighting the blademaster. All pre-defined in the WoT series.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2017 11:30AM by istirith.