Here are a few of my observations about Sharn, as with the pre-release.
Here is the splash screen advertising Sharn:

What were the thinking? This surely does not make me want to purchase this expansion. It's about Sharn, and the new race Teifling. The only view of a Teifling is the back of their head. Are they implying that they are too ugly to look at?
Next, what is that Harry Potter with a glandular disorder thing? Or perhaps it is suppose to be something that swallowed Harry Potter. I hope none of my toons ever look like that.
The next thing that caught my eye is that disheveled Alice looking character? One that labeled all of her cheesecakes
EAT ME. I mean, c'mon!
The rest of the picture is pretty boring. A werewolf, a warforged, and some peeping-Tom looking kid. Really?
Is this the best that their art department could come up with? Not really something to convince me to spend my hard earned money to get an early shot at playing Sharn.
Ok, let's talk about a few of the early release items. The Bloodhound. About twice as large as it should be. And that harness on the back -- what is it, a seeing eye dog? Very non-immersive, about as welcomed as finding a McDonalds next to the Harbor banker. Then again, the Alice looking character would probably like that.
Next is the Shield Guardian. WTF? It looks something like a cross between a 50's Sci-Fi movie prop and a reject from one of the Guardians of the Galaxy films.
Need I mention Teiflings? I saw the videos of the Lam preview. Some of the models were rather nice looking. And the options included small and large horns, or even no horns. Tails were well designed, but again in the Lam preview they could also be tailless. The Live happens, and we get Teiflings that look like someone took a crap on their heads and shaped it into a horn. And the tails -- they have this rather curious semi-clipping thing going on with capes, that is vaguely unsettling. Or somewhat erotic. I haven't figured out yet.
And finally, there is that damn Mechanical Peacock (er, Warforged Peacock.) It is the most incredibly interesting thing that has come out of the DDO Art Department in years. It is truly awesome. If you can make something this beautiful, what are you laying all this other crap on us for?