Populated I'll give you but alive nope... one of the reasons people hate fates so much is because there lifeless. Nothing ever happens. Winning or losing losing fate doesn't change the zone or the world in any way..
Oh look a bunch of monsters attacking the settlement and stealing all the food. If you totally ignore that fate and let the monsters run riot. The settlement will be just fine. If you help them out and clear the monsters out the settlement is still just fine.. there is zero difference and that is both incredibly boringnand incredibly lifeless.
Fates would be so much more interesting if they shaped the world in some way.. ffxi had things like campaign battles and besieged. Which was essentially just an older version of a fate. But they shaped the world.. if you lost besieged you lost the candescance. If you won the besieged monsters in the open world would be easier and in fewer numbers. You'd see less trolls in zaylohom for example if you just smashed a level 8 besieged against them...
Fates suck though they have sucked since 2.0 pretty much which is why people hate them so much. And it's also the big reason the diadem never succeeded. Because it was basically just a fate zone and everyone hated fates.
