With regards to the lack of Vesper Bay aetheryte being "explained" in the story: yeah, they gave a flimsy, one-line rationalization. I don't really buy it, myself. Frankly, I think the real reason is: "Because if we make the player constantly go to a far-flung, inconvenient location for main story quests, it pads game hours and subscription time." I mean, there's basically nothing else there. If it weren't for the story, no one would ever go there.

Quote Originally Posted by Jynx View Post
I think the world having a travel time from point A to B is a big part of the game, community, economy, and other factors in the game. I'm looking at how the games systems and suggested changes will effect me and my enjoyment of the game.
There would still be plenty of travel time from point A to B, if they just added a few more aetherytes at common locations. You know what I fell is a big part of the game? Actually playing it, as opposed to wasting several minutes of my limited time commuting back and forth. If I have somewhere to be, I will go there, not stop to make friends with every other player I see along the way.
As for economy, it costs gil to use the aetherytes, so it does serve as a gil sink. Or are you afraid that if we were actually able to be more productive with our time, it would somehow harm the economy? I'm not seeing it.

Do you think being stuck on a bus to work each day is important for the "economy" or "community" of real life? Is your day positively enriched, wasting time being stuck in traffic? We're talking about transportation, here. It's like you're saying "We can't let transportation get too good, or else the sky will fall!"