I think Dark Sun works better without Preservers. All magic defiles, period.
Preservers were a cop-out so people could still play mages and not have to grapple with the consequences of defiling magic. They watered down the setting from "every mage hurts the world" to "only evil mages hurt the world".
Preservers were a cop-out so people could still play mages and not have to grapple with the consequences of defiling magic. They watered down the setting from "every mage hurts the world" to "only evil mages hurt the world".