It shouldn't be that hard to do well in ToA or even get reasonable items. With a good group (and by that I don't mean a fotm optimised style PvE gank-group) or a couple of friends helping you, you can do up to and including ML2 in a couple of hours.
Artefacts are going to be the big time-sinks, and even then they don't have to be as bad as people make them out to be. It depends on how you value your time vs your money. With a good group you can do an encounter to get one of the artefacts, then take that group to DF and farm enough cash to get the scrolls for it (most will be on sale on CMs within a couple of weeks), or you can farm for the scrolls yourself - maybe powerlevel a friend while you're doing it, or just get a couple of guildies together and piss about.
Everybody knows that daoc is an investment, and people who don't spend much time in game won't be as good as those who do, its logical.
The trick is to be open minded - don't see ToA as something boring you
have to do, but as something you want to do. Help a friend get an alt through those tough levels, explore a bit - kill a mob thats never been killed on your server before - its what the game's all about.
Oh yeah, quick edit - DAoC doesn't have to be a timesink if you apply yourself - myself and my boyfriend both work in full time jobs getting home about 7pm, and we still have time to RvR, PvE, do quests, do guild events etc as well as run a large guild. Believe it or not we have a social life as well
