A long long time ago, that was the only level items had.
Since then, a new classification system was added, and they simply left the old level in case some map would be using it.
Item - Create "random item" uses the old system, whereas Item - Create "random item of class" uses the new one.
Other than that, there's not much use to it.
New maps use the classification system by default, though that can be changed.
And, yes, priority tells comps what item is the best, as otherwise they have no idea... can't really read the tooltip
I am working on getting access to the old news portal under a different URL for those that would rather use that for news before we get a different news view.
It is OK though for the main page to open up on the forum in the view it was before. As long as the portal has its own URL so it can be viewed that way I do want to try it as a regular forum view for a while
I switched it to a "Standard" article forum. This will show the thread list like normal, but the threads themselves will have the first post set up above the rest of the "comments"