Wushin asked me to post some more thoughts to this topic:
As for the tileset, this tileset might be a start:
viewtopic.php?p=123726#p123726
Combine this with several parallaxes to create a 3d-ish effect, and particle effects, you can make this map look really cool and awsome. This is IMO important, as this map will be the first thing a player will see. Make this look awsome, and (s)he will think the whole game will look awsome. And before (s)he realizes it's not, (s)he is already part of the community
As for the multiple starts, we already said something about it at irc (I took the liberty to remove some chatter):
[19:48] <EJlol> but I wonder what you expect will happen with multiple player start points with the amount of new player we get
[19:51] <wushin> You gain immersion from multiple starting areas
[19:51] <wushin> As long as all roads lead to Rome it will be ok.
With the small player base we have I doubt people will be immersed enough to reach Rome. The way I would imagine a MMORPG world with a small player base is like this:
People start at Rome, where the community is, and expand over the world. The further they go the more dangerous it becomes. The advantage for this is that new players don't have trouble to find the community and start at a relative safe place for them. They can wander in and around the starting area without having to be worried to be killed. While they also have no trouble to find other players, that may want to help them to understand the game or help with a quest. As they level up, they will be able to explore more and more and and see new things every time. The further away they are, the less players they will meet, but that is oke, since by then they understand how the game works.
I don't get immersion by multiple starting areas, I get immersion by seeing that this game is not just played by only me.