The old system had to be phased out because it resulted in significant crowds of people flocking to a single location which brings the server to it's knees. If 1000 people want to get in an event and know the 'hint' then this results in bad times for everyone because not only will it be a fight to get in, it will lag the server to hell in the process.
Should also note while there may be 3000 people on not all of them are paying attention or want to participate, if the event only allow 50 people in and a 1000 people queue for the event you still have a 5% chance of getting in.