How about not finding any info at all?
Im just brainstorming here, so leave me be :p
This is what i was thinking of:
There are mountains and caves and rivers and more. Then how about that in 1 of the mountains there is a abandoned village, where are corpses everywhere. The trail to this village is nowhere, except for some wagon trails or footsteps now and then (so you have to scout for yourself).
Then in this village a giant hole has been made in the center, forming an entrace to a giant lava pit. In there are several tests (depending on the item it would be brain tests for magic item and strength test for battle equipment) When you pass them you get to a shrine with several extremely rare random items, only to be found in such places cause there would also be caves and such where more of these \"quests\" would be.
Then you are allowed to pick out 1 of these items and make it your own. Since everbody would have different items to choose from, it would bring a lot of variety into the game, and make these rare weapons more powerfull since there is a chance of 0.005% that some1 else has the same item.
This is just an example. You could also have water caves, abandones castles, a wide desert with a dungeon entrance somewhere and more. All these tests would be only available to each person 1 time, so your choice of item is important, and no1 can keep doing the same quest untill he or she has an uber outfit.
For the choice of item i tought of this:
Just something like you have a slot for a helm, 2 slot for 2 rings, a slot for a amulet, a slot for bracelets, a slot for armor, a slot for boots, 2 slots for weapons/shield, a slot for leg pads and a slot for arm pads. This is a total of 10 slots. To make your choice carry weight there should be only 5 or 6 of these tests, making the places harder to find (less places means less chance of finding them). At the same time the only way to get yourself totally equiped with these rare items is to battle great monsters that drop comparable items as well (altough of lesser power) or to find a person that has a rare item and is willing to sell/trade it with you.
To make people also want to carry these with them, i would suggest that these rares cannot be dropped when you die: you always keep them with you nomatter what happens to you. Else no1 dares to bring their items along againt strong opponents afraid of losing them.
