The new map is actually pretty cool, it's being weighted hard right now. It's Kandar and the surrounding area but in "modern" time, so the castle and everything are in ruins but a lot of the map is accurate to places in AoD. They even added weather effects so it's potentially different each playthrough though some of my friends had issues when it was raining. The update is a little buggy as of right now so hopefully they patch it soon.
That being said, the new explorer mode is ok but what map you get is random, which I don't like. You also have to fight Deadites as you explore the map and get none of your characters abilities or upgrades. I honestly think that's kind of fucking stupid for an Explore mode and should be fixed, but that's me. They also released the pre-purchase AoD Ash knight and S-Mart costume exclusives as purchasable for $2.99 each.