Communication

[Iscah]

Generally, you won’t find much activity in the /shout or /say chat in an area unless you’re in a major city state (Limsa is usually fairly popular and usually has an active /shout chat).

That sounds like a cultural thing - playing on Japanese servers, conversations via shout chat (at least the servers I'm familiar with) are virtually nonexistent. Shout will be used for information (primarily elite mark locations within a zone) or occasionally by people advertising their FCs. Beyond that and the occasional conversation in /say, it's quiet.

The vast majority of conversation happens semi-privately in FCs or linkshells.

[HyoMinPark]

That sounds like a cultural thing - playing on Japanese servers, conversations via shout chat (at least the servers I'm familiar with) are virtually nonexistent. Shout will be used for information (primarily elite mark locations within a zone) or occasionally by people advertising their FCs. Beyond that and the occasional conversation in /say, it's quiet.

The vast majority of conversation happens semi-privately in FCs or linkshells.

Perhaps that’s the case on JP servers. But on my server (and most other Aether/Crystal servers that I know of), /shout is fairly active in places like Limsa Lominsa or Ul’dah (Gridania can be a bit quiet save for during events that take place there). Most of the chat is meme-y and superfluous, but active nonetheless. Now, OP is posting from an EU server, so maybe it’s different there. But the rest of my comment still stands—if they are looking for active communication, an active FC or active Linkshells would be their best bet.