I think the maze like appearance of The Black Shroud turns players away. Kazham in FFXI wasn't even as bad as The Black Shroud. You should never look at a map and only see tunnel or cave like crevasse littered all over the map. People most likely like Ul'Dah because it is most open map in starting out cities. Sure La Noscea is open too, but its a giant U. Imagine if you had to walk from one side to the other - jeesh. I started out in Ul'Dah cause I thought it was cool, so its annoying to go to a different city and see nobodys there. I like the feeling of different 'cultures' almost from different cities. and all that originates from the lore/story behind each city giving each player a role to fill almost. hence, RPG.