Questions about my client: ********* Evolution

Hey guys, I've been playing SoD for a while now with little to no problem and I've been using: ********* Evolution (which includes orig, kunark, velious, luclin, planes of power, and legacy of ykesha.

My question is, the introduction description says I would need at LEAST up to gates of discord, which I dont have (but have been playing fine) I noticed today that while I was hunting, I was fighting a human model instead of some type of spider as the name of the mob implied.. I assume that was one of the drawbacks and I would like to play SoD to its fullest.

1) What drawbacks am I having by not having up to gates of discord? (which is supposedly the minimum.. will I be missing entire zones available in SoD or just npc models..? more?)
2) Even if Gates of Discord is the minimum, what will I be lacking by not having more?
3) What more do i actually need to play SoD to its fullest potential? (i realize it recommends titanium and anniversary, but I may be able to get a hold of my old CDs if i look really hard but I need to know what I'm looking for.. whats necessary and what isn't)

If anyone has some in-depth information, I would really appreciate any information provided or linked..

I don't think you can do it with the live patcher anymore.. it asks you to log into your account before it starts updating anything. I know before you could download all the expansions through the patcher (that was available at the time anyway) but it doesn't appear possible anymore. Looks like I can get my hands on the titanium version, but do you have any idea what files are utilized that the anniversary edition has that the titanium pack doesn't have? Would have to be something from: Prophecy of Ro, The Serpent's Spine, or The Buried Sea..? I really dont want to miss anything that SoD has to offer so I'm just trying to figure things out..

You will be missing both zones and NPCs.
You wont miss anything by not having more than GoD, because currently, we dont use it.
You need up to and including GoD, which is why thats whats in the starting documentation.

Im not sure I understand what "In depth information" you want.

Thanks for the info, that is probably all I need. The more in-depth info I was looking for ward the advantages of having anniversary edition over titanium, which appears that there is no advantage *YET*.

My thought was that things may have been utilized beyond titanium which gives having anniversary extras but it doesn't appear to be that way. perhaps you guys are working on utilizing things that are beyond what titanium offers or just recommend having as much as possible just to be safe for the future..

this is good news for me because i have access to all the cd's up to what titanium offers

There were model changes, IIRC, with the 11th expansion included in Anniversary. It will play the game, but you may be missing some models (mobs will appear as human). Per this post. I know Andaara still plays, not sure if she ever got resolved or not.

If I get bored enough, will patch everything via live patcher to see what happens, but I haven't been that bored since new launchpad has been out. (I run 2 directories, one with Live, one with SoD).

Do you have a subscription to live? I dont think you can patch with live unless you are subscribed.. i ran into a few human models today that were supposed to be spiders, partly why I'm trying to upgrade my client. main reason is that im missing zones and also want to experience SoD as it was designed.. SoD really is great

Yes, I have an active Live subscription. I gave my account to a friend when I quit, and he keeps it active. He actually just pre-ordered the new expansion. *shrug* I just haven't been bored enough to create a 3rd test directory to see what happens now if you patch full to Live, and then try to patch SoD.

Titanium is the one thing that is proven to work. I started SoD pre-launchpad, so I did full patch when I started, and do backups of my SoD directory in case I want to install on another computer, since some of my expansions were digital downloads.