Why are most jobs related to Ul'dah?

[Alleluia]

Ul'dah feels like the canon starting city regardless of the expansion jobs, and is the one I recommend to new players.

It introduces some key characters earlier – Thancred, Raubahn, Nanamo and to a lesser extent Papashan (who is just vaguely around if not properly introduced in the early Ul'dah arc) – and also highlights that many of the Brass Blades are corrupt and in it for the coin.

Yeah, but Limsa has poster girl Y'shtola and the kidnappings of people for tempering to primals in its starter storyline. It leads most directly to Sastasha once all the storylines converge. Also Limsa has WAR's base class starting in it, which is derplander's ARR job.

(And I think the original 1.0 cinematic was supposed to be set in LL's Adventurer's Guild before they redesigned things a lot, but don't quote me on that? It might have been Ishgard.)

And Papashan is not particularly important in the grand scheme of things, no offense meant to him, so I don't entirely see how that has anything to do with determining which city is most relevant to canon events?

Not that I'm knocking Ul'dah, mind. Just saying Limsa seems more "canon starter" to me, if I absolutely had to pick. But I did start there, so I'm sure I'm biased.