YES fates are broken.

[ElHeggunte]

I agree, really.
But even in game, most zones allow for lots of activities without ever leaving.

Depends on the FATE and the zone in question. Southern Than, for example, has a few different FATEs across the different books. It's also a well-populated area even outside of prime time. Going off to do anything else in the zone is a good way to miss your FATE because it'll likely get cleared almost the moment it appears unless you're in the immediate area (read: right where the FATE spawns).

If SE was so adamant about making us do FATEs for the animus books they should have had us do a set number of random ones or at the very least, not go out of their way to pick exceptionally rare spawns.