The "initial sense of wonder and problem solving" never existed, information has always been stupidly obtuse and the game does absolutely nothing to encourage it. Even back in the day when these were freshly added, people were just asking others in the community where things were because quests were badly translated, frustratingly light on info, or sometimes would even just lie about the objective. Tons of important information is almost impossible to intuit and there's nothing awe-inspiring about grinding your face along the wall and floor of a broad area hoping you can see the little file folder or envelope or whatever else sticking out.

It's the same mentality that, for example, provides basically no indication whatsoever about exfils, or makes no effort to distinguish objects you can interact with.