Why are mages the only class with something tied fundamentally to exploration?

I love RP, I love PK, but exploration just doesn't do anything but bore me.

Anything but a mage and with the exception of leveling, I could stay within three areas of eastern road and never miss any fundamental aspect of any other class(that includes a druid).

Some people like exploration, that's great, they get to go to areas that are considered fun and use preps I'll never get on my own etc etc, the people who like to explore already get rewarded I just don't like having it forced on me.

My only experience with the newest flavor of wand system is to get a mage up to 36, spend a few weeks looking, decide I'd rather let 100 hours auto-delete than think about trying to find anything again. My experience with the old was my one mage, a necro, and without having found my wands (thanks to my cabal mates and to the fact that because they knew where one was, they knew the other two), I was able to not get 2 rounded by paladins. However, I got lucky and had a pretty "easy" set. Had I gotten one of the retarded ones that it isn't likely you could get your own barrier solo...I would have just deleted.

There is a reason I stick to empowerment classes. While the thought of mage roles and playing styles sounds interesting to me, the hassle and headache of messing with the wand system just isn't worth it. I wish I had an idea for something better because I don't think it's a system that has ever worked well.