The world feels too small.

[Dreamer]

That's fine, but once you've fully explored a zone, what then? That's my point. SE could make the zones five times as big as they are now and it largely would make no difference since once you've explored a zone one time there's no reason to go back and do it all over again. I enjoy exploration myself, but I want to do it on my own terms. Being forced to take the scenic route every single time you step outside would grow old very fast and would just be a timesink. After I'm satisfied that I've explored a zone enough, I enjoy the option to skip to the "good parts" as it were.

Here's an example. A few nights ago, my FC wanted to spend some downtime before heading off for adventure time some time later in the evening. We gathered at a place called Hermit's Hovel, in outer La Noscea, iirc. There's nothing there - no quest givers, no NPCs, no quests, nothing. It's just a wooden shack, next to some hot springs that sit on a cliff with a view of the La Noscea volcano. Yet we spent more than five hours there, basically....because it was there. It was a Place. A tucked away corner of Eorzea that, at least for a time, was ours. In the grand scheme of things, there's no point to it or places like it. But when you're playing with people who enjoy being a part of the world, you can never have too many of places like this.

For a counter example, let's look at Lord of the Rings Online. Back when I was actively playing the game, I was in a fellowship called the Lonely Mountain Band. Every week, they hosted an event called Ale & Tales, which, as you can probably glean from the name, involved a lot of drinking, talespinning, and music played by the guild using LotRO's wonderful in-game music system. And the entire time I was playing, I don't think we ever had the event at the same location more than once, which the exception of the fellowship house/neighborhood. Sometimes in small hamlets, sometimes in inns in the cities, sometimes at random locations like the party grounds near Bag End or that little fishing pier outside Archet.

The point is that size = potential (no innuendo intended); even though you may have explored a zone thoroughly, it's still a part of the gameworld, and doesn't need to have a purpose to have a place as a small part of the big picture.