Awhile ago I brought this same situation up on the ZAM forums. I just made a blog about my idea of aetheryte as a network of branches and hubs and the more branches and hubs you pass the more anima it should cost.

Also if so many people are against the idea of having to run to an aetheryte crystal they could just implement teleports from anywhere, but cheaper teleports from a crystal.

The biggest issue I have with the system is how inconsistent it is in the canon of world itself. If you go back and read the aetheryte section on the ffxiv website they talk about how it was such a big factor in the expansion of the nations... yet all of the outlying towns are completely devoid of aetheryte.

I'd like to see the actual crystalized aetheryte in towns and a select few areas only... the camps should all be nodes that branch out from the crystals at the towns and then the towns should be branches from the hubs of the main cities.

Towns should get unique leves and quests, their own chocobo stalls, their own retainer bells, some actual shops, and maybe guild access for people who have earned it.

So if someone wants to travel from a hub to a hub, or a hub to one of it's branches it costs 2 anima. from a hub to a node off of one of it's branches 3 anima... from a node to a node on a completely different hub 4-6 anima... from the middle of nowhere to a node on a different hub, maybe 9 or 10 anima.

This would ween people off the dependency of anima, promote the use of the newer modes of transportation, and then also create more depth in the world by giving valid reasons to be in the outlying towns like Aleport and Golden Bazaar.

People can still travel from the middle of nowhere, halfway across the world... but if they do it to much they could be stuck hoofing it.

Whereas the people who don't mind a short walk here and there could never run out of anima.