[Cainehill]

I suspect that part of the reason it seems like a mere expansion is because Dominions is one of the few turn-based strategy games of recent years that doesn't have any campaign play. Developers (and many players) seem to think that a new story line means it can be considered a new game. Look at Disciples & Disciples II for instance, which didn't have any substantial upgrade in graphics, nor do I recall Age of Wonders getting much of a graphical facelift.

But they did have new campaign storylines, whereas Dominions ganes can seem like random scenarios, which in a manner of speaking they are.