You'll notice that there are 4 starting locations in the game: Highport, Sigil, Gnomebarrow, and Oakspire. Each area is modeled after Highport in difficulty - new starting locations are not meant to make the mud harder, but more fun and more realistic. Any comments about Sigil or Gnomebarrow as starting locations, post about them here (Oakspire comments should be in the Oakspire thread).