There are things i like a lot more about 1.x, and the open world is one of them. Hopefully Eureka fixes this in the expansion.
(Ul'dah lag is not one of them, lol)

The thing about 1.x's open world is that although it had a lot of copy pasta environments to make it so huge, you could always find these little spots where a great deal of effort had been put into the art design. Especially in higher level areas. I'll always remember my first trip up to the Lance. And no, this game has nothing like Ifrit's Cauldron. Hopefully Eureka fixes this.