The issue described is also partially the fault of the instanced design of the FFXIV game world. The single instance city hubs from Stormblood onwards seem like they're meant to be snapshots of only the most important sections of the places they represent, while the rest of the cities' expanses are left to your imagination. You don't have that same luxury in a seamless world, because you can't render a few buildings and roads and pretend that you have a metropolis. If you want lore-driven places of interest, you need the physical space to place those buildings. Otherwise, where do you put Sharlayan's art museum?

I'm hoping that the increased object count after the graphical update allows them to build cities with larger scale, although perhaps the solution is just to create cities with multiple districts, each with their own instance. In fact, I'd probably enjoy an expansion where most if not all of the new instances were based within and immediately around a massive, sprawling city complete with underground passageways and intrigue. You don't have to cover a large geographical area to deliver an interesting story.