But detect artifact wont really help you.

It seems new mages get their sleeks in new added locations.

With my mage I got all troubles you've described. Found only one location (old, well known place). Though, I've found a bunch of possible new locations, but all are empty.

Rolled new, and I wont do anything serious, like role stuff or cabal join until I hit 30 and ensure that I can find my sleeks. If not, I reroll.

Adn though that question was not to me, I will answer.
No, exploring and checking all those areas is not fun for me. Tedious most of the times.