MMO exploration died post Everquest and coding in exploration with achievements and world events that are all specifically scripted aren't really exploration they are illusions.

Instead of accepting the player base as the dynamic force in the world (ala EVE) other modern MMO design has deemed that every player needs to be the star of the show at every moment to line up with other video games. What this does is drown all those moments into a deluge so that nothing stands out as being truly unique or dynamic and you see right through it all.

WoW's greatest success was it found out how to make the elements of MMOs more readily visible so that a mass audience could get into it, it was also the greatest weakness for the genre because now nothing is hidden or new or spontaneous everything is pre-planned and waiting for you to walk up to it.