Huh? (o_O?) Are the hints in these quest randomized?

When i got the Valentione quests, the hints i got were:
  • “Central Shroud” for the Gridanian quest
  • “tidegate” for the Limsa Lominsan quest
  • “kings” for the Ul’dahn quest

I started scouring the Central Shroud for the NPC, but after searching the entire east side of the map i stopped searching in that area. At that time i was looking for a roaming NPC and the quest explicitly mentioned that the NPC would not display a quest icon. Since i knew that the Tidegate was quite a bit smaller than the Central Shroud, i figured i should go there instead.

After circling through both the North and South section of the Tidegate, talking to every NPC i bumped into. No dice… (T_T ) So, i figured that i should check the towns instead… After looking NPC i haven’t seen before in the smaller (key) locations, i managed to find all 3 of them soon afterwards.