Shops in hamlets.

[Tetsaru]

I'd visit the hamlets more often if they weren't such a pain to travel to. I wish there was a direct travel method like airships that just took you there.

Nearby aetheryte nodes and chocobos aren't enough?

That said though, I think it'd be nice if a hamlet was thriving enough, it could generate its own aetherial node so people could warp directly to it. It'd be another cool thing to works towards. I could've sworn FF11 did something similar to this in terms of what nation was in control of an area when using Signet or something... course it's been forever since I played that, and I didn't stick with it for very long, lol. ^^;

[Kio]

Nearby aetheryte nodes and chocobos aren't enough?

Nope, not nearly "near by" enough. Port to camp > port to node > chocobo for several minutes, my laziness kicks in and I'd rather just not bother going at all. I've not finished quests that have to go to hamlets for months because I'm too lazy and bored to trek out to them haha.

I do like your ideas though of the hamlets having their own node. Maybe make ease of travel rewards for players continuing to do the defense content. The only downside of that is, if not enough people play it, you run the risk of even less wanting to try due to the inconvenience.
Something like a chocobo carriage route that you can rent to take you there via an instant cutscene such as the airships do, that only feel "safe" about going if people do caravan and hamlet defense. Maybe wave the fee for a while for players who have succeeded in the activities to dissuade moochers but not hurt low level players who simply can't participate yet.
Something along those lines would make me happy to try the upcoming content more frequently while still maintaining my comfortable life of Garfield-esque laziness.
(At least until new maps are released in 2.0, then I won't mind traveling around and exploring again like I did in XI)

[Tetsaru]

Nope, not nearly "near by" enough. Port to camp > port to node > chocobo for several minutes, my laziness kicks in and I'd rather just not bother going at all. I've not finished quests that have to go to hamlets for months because I'm too lazy and bored to trek out to them haha.

Lol, that's too bad. I consider myself pretty lazy too, but a lot of people don't realize that chocobos are often times more efficient than constantly using Anima to warp everywhere. Keep in mind: for every 1 Anima you use, you have to wait 4 hours to get it back, so if you warp from one area to a specific camp in another area (say, from Ul'dah to Bloodshore) and spend 6 Anima, that's a whole day's worth you've already used up. When I do my Blacksmith and Armorer leves in Limsa and have to turn them in at all the different camps in La Noscea, I'll usually just warp once to Bald Knoll (which I have favorited so it costs less Anima, of course), then chocobo out to Skull Valley, then Iron Lake, then Bloodshore, and loop around clockwise all the way back down to Limsa again. Unless I have other leves to do at those camps, or end up getting mauled by random Kobolds or Raptors, I can usually do a complete run around the entire area in about half an hour or so, give or take several minutes. That, and setting your home point in strategic locations can also help. Just a thought.

I do like your ideas though of the hamlets having their own node. Maybe make ease of travel rewards for players continuing to do the defense content. The only downside of that is, if not enough people play it, you run the risk of even less wanting to try due to the inconvenience.
Something like a chocobo carriage route that you can rent to take you there via an instant cutscene such as the airships do, that only feel "safe" about going if people do caravan and hamlet defense. Maybe wave the fee for a while for players who have succeeded in the activities to dissuade moochers but not hurt low level players who simply can't participate yet.
Something along those lines would make me happy to try the upcoming content more frequently while still maintaining my comfortable life of Garfield-esque laziness.
(At least until new maps are released in 2.0, then I won't mind traveling around and exploring again like I did in XI)

And once again, I'm glad someone likes my ideas. ^^ This has been an awesome thread so far, filled with wonderful suggestions from almost everyone; I really hope SE uses them!