It happened then Land areas and Land grab were introduced, apparently the reason perhaps was to reduce the load on the servers when the taxes are being calculated.
I remember VU notes boasting that "the loot distribution changed to give more total and allowing to loot items more often" :P
though it caused much contention beween the ubers who found that only 1 of 10 AoA did carry the loot
i saw those notes some time ago aroung the internet archive...