MMO mystery versus database websites

"I think [MMO] complexity could be achieved in a way that makes [spoiler sites] irrelevant." -fohguild.org forum poster

I was thinking about this topic the other day, and of ways to accomplish it. Either having staff on duty to mix up named NPC spawns and drops every so often (maybe if they see it reported on a database site), or some sort of dynamic code to do it automatically... or of course scrapping the entire idea and going back to something like classic UO where any old lich could drop a magic halberd and maybe, just maybe it's silver vanquishing. But of course that system - while beautiful in its simplicity - isn't nearly as exciting as seeing an NPC with a strange name pop up, killing it, and having an interesting item drop.

Obviously I am in the niche crowd of missing the past, back before people had already cataloged every item in an expansion by looking inside database files before the content even goes live. It ruins WoW for me, honestly. I am hoping cataclysm at least provides some new fun with the revamped old content, because WoW is only really fun for me when I am leveling up. Once I hit end-game, join a guild and am surrounded by people saying "ok hold on I am reading this website for how to kill this raid boss" it's just like... ugh, really? I can't blame anyone either since Bliz tunes the encounters such that it's some big honor for the first guild to figure it out (again, these days, usually during beta before the product is even launched) and then everyone else just copies whoever did it first.

Granted, WoW's raid encounters are by far and away more interesting than anything any other MMO has done. It's just that the difficulty usually

Heck, part of the reason I enjoyed playing vanguard so much last year was simply due to the lack of information available about the game. It was actually enjoyable to get some friends together, have no idea about an instance aside maybe in-game word of mouth, and just go check it out and see what's up. In most games, developers can't make a single interesting thing without completely media whoring it out and making a bunch of flashing neon sign quests pointing you directly to it.

I mean, shit. Remember having to print out a goddamn map someone created online and following landmarks?

Furthermore, developers pretty much miss the concept of loot entirely these days anyway. Another side effect of the databasing and information overload effect, loot is completely generic while leveling ("____ of the monkey", etc.), and the endgame is dominated by "ilevel", making endgame loot all completely similar where people are struggling over increasing stamina by a point or two, allowing for no big jumps in equipment (aside gear reset expansions). And since everyone knows exactly what they need to get and where to get it from, there is no mystery or intrigue involved in the process of gearing up. This was even taken a step further with badge/honor gear, where there isn't even a question of "what", only "when".

What happened to being able to just get some interesting shit? Especially during leveling up. Opening the floodgates of information really ruined everything I love about MMO's honestly. There was a time in EQ when I didn't even know if one weapon was better than another based on their dmg/delay, and if it had a stat bonus on it that I didn't even know what it really did for my character (aside that it was recommended - which turned out to be wrong in the case of rogues!). Now the weapons tell you exactly what their DPS is, your character sheet updates with exactly how much better your character is when equipping it, and even the stat points are boiled down to show you specifically what they are modifying and by exactly how much of a percentage/increase. The best you can hope for is having to do a little math to figure out if a stat bonus outweighs a lower dps value.

I know I can't be the only one who gets that false sense of excitement while leveling up in Feralas or somewhere, seeing a silver "rare" named mob, killing it and then ending up getting some gray vendor trash, or at best, some generic green item that with any luck will have a better "of the" than the one you're currently using.