Even zone design and traversal is formulaic

[Arohk]

Shaaloani is literally the zone with an obvious cliff marking the edge of the map:

don't play stupid man, you know wha i mean...

[AmiableApkallu]

don't play stupid man, you know wha i mean...

None of what you've highlighted has anything to do with the design of the zones. Indeed, as an adventurer, you would expect there to be natural and artificial features blocking your path.

The actual problem is that when our so-called adventurer (the WoL) asks, "How do I go over there?" FFXIV's answer is inevitably, "You've got one option: Do more MSQ."

If this were Shadowbringers, we would have been able to go after the light wardens in whatever order we pleased. If this were Dawntrail, we would have been able to do the various tablets of the right of succession in whatever order we pleased.

But instead, we're forced into one specific order, and one specific path. The initial split at the start of the expansion is merely to avoid another Raubahn EX.