*Slowly raises hand* I completely stumbled upon CoP the first time and it was quite the pleasant surprise indeed. That being said, it's easy to imagine that those of us who are well informed the "intellectual elite" as it were, constitute the entire playerbase. I would venture a guess that quite a few people stumble upon things like this all the time (though less so in FFXIV for the exact reasons we are having this discussion).

Basic, fundamental, gameplay should be easy and accessible, but diligence should also be rewarded. What better way to reward exploration than in a way that does not punish those that do not.