Parked my 76 pally for a bit and started a berzerker. At first, I just wanted to start in Qeynos and the island, but after playing a few minutes and realizing that the "gear" on the island was vastly outdated, I re-rolled. Getting a chest piece with +2 str was exciting 3 years ago, but hardly today.
Deleted that toon and started the same guy only this time in the new Timouous Deep section. Not big on "evil" toons but what the heck. At level 19 I have 1.5k hps and 800 mana. I believe he has close to 140 str and 120 Stamina. He almost has a full set of cool looking armor (lost the chest piece somewhere...).
A comparable toon stats with Antonica gear would be roughly 2/3rds that...
In other words, why the heck would anyone re-visit the old islands, or even Darkwood for that matter???