Funny as it may sound, but i bet most of the Players here probably didn't Start with mmorpgs before WoW got released.
And we all Know which direction Games started to take after that particular game.

To be perfectly honest, if i hadn't started with Games like FFXI, EQ or ragnarok online i probably wouldn't understand what the OP is getting at aswell.

Exploration has been alot more engaging and interesting in the past games.
You Lot say you don't Want to spend that much in a Game to get Things done, i suggest you to Play Single Player Games or Call of Duty than.

If you take the Adventure to Explore out of an RPG what we're Left with is a Game where all we do is Grind for Equipment.