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I don't think our esteemed site host means an "expansion"; expansions basically add to the existing gameworld with generally only minor gameplay changes or additions and using the same graphics engine (though an expansion may "upgrade" the graphics engine, a la DAoC).
What he means, I think, is a "new" game (with an entirely new, more powerful graphics engine), considerably altered (and improved) gameplay, reflecting the genre's evolution, and a very, very large amount of new content (much more than the average expansion).

That way, you combine the "new" (major leaps in graphics and gameplay and massive new content) with the "old" (the old world and existing characters). Something like this has never been tried before, as far as I know, and goes considerably beyond the addition of some zones plus new critters and gameplay and graphics tweaks. You might argue it's a difference of degree, rather than kind, but personally I think that when the changes are really as major as is proposed, it really becomes a very, very different game.