I explore quite a bit cause I enjoy that aspect of CF, and I still have no idea where some of the more heavily sought things come from because quite simply, they are never there at their origin because everyone knows who has it, knows when they die/lost it, and get it as soon as they know it will be there. I did not even find out where the black hammer pendant actually was until recently. And I've been through that place hundreds of times. I knew it came from that area, but not where exactly, and where I thought it was in there was actually wrong. I've played for two years almost. I've seen it at its origin one time.

The deck is a single item, but anything that can be abused we all know someone will. In every situation it is difficult to come up with an idea that covers everything, so if it could be done it may need something to make it truly relevant and non-abusable. However, I still like this idea for a few reasons.

A. Mobs will have their gear to fight players with, which makes the mobs essentially fight as they were designed. In area explores this is especially true, as with aggro mobs. Say mob A normally has two limited swords, he's a sword spec beast that is difficult and challenging to fight because of it, and he normally blocks an entrance. Without them he becomes a joke to kill(or you hand spec every mob-which would make things insanely difficult). But then there are ranking mobs with limited gear, players leave limited things on the ground, and they repop bare making it easier to rank without the same risk. Make it tougher for us, the challenges of this game in non-PK is a lot of its appeal, especially in tough areas.

B. Continuity. Many mob descriptions are beautifully written. But saying he's holding a fiery blade and a certain pendant, but not actually using them? It just ruins a small bit of it for me, but I realize there are limitations on what can be done in game. I get it, it would be excessive to outfit every mob with full sets as their descs would imply, but usually things in the desc of real note are actual items/gear on the mob.

Zulgh's post I agree with, knowing where something comes from is probably the best reason for this, even if I can not ID the item. If I want to know rarity I can use legendary awareness, but I think that is too high a skill to make a prereq essentially. Although I guess it would only work for held items, nonheld/inventory items would essentially still remain a mystery if they disappeared instantly on mob death. So you could not find carried wands and such this way, which is really where it would be most useful for newer players, to find limited prep/wand/talisman locations.