Agreed. I can't recall for certain, but I want to say the sound/music ambience was different in Old DA, too- quieter, eerier. Was there a lot more "noise" in the new DA, or am I just misremembering and it was the same?
I recall the Devs talking about why they got rid of the fog in one of the new DA previews on the website, but I always wondered if they really thought twice about it. Limited experience with mapping and textures and things; is it a big deal to render fog in an MMO?