"The gods are said to smile on those adventurers who seek out the
mysteries and challenges of Thera, braving danger and being of
clever mind. Skilled explorers may occasionally find themselves
gifted with small bonuses of experience points and movement points,
reflecting the learning and conditioning one acquires from one's
travels. Both novices and veterans may benefit in this fashion,
though the challenge to each will affect the reward."

I don't know where it says "check out the ships in hamsah docks bro, you get sweet edgepoints. But do it before you hit PK range and use a script." in there.

I don't worry about your given example at all. I worry more about a newbie getting 0 explore for going to loch Grynmear at level 14 just to see what's past that gate in that city. It's not at all intuitive that the best way to get the exp is by botting the Hamsah docks. "Think of the newbies!" is utterly laughable given the example presented.

After a year playing I never went round hometowns looking at everything because.. They're hometowns, it doesn't make sense that I'd be 'exploring' them and I can't be forced to put up with that kind of grind anyway.