You do have a point, there are things to do. But they've been the same four/five activities since ARR. Those activities don't really require you to actually explore either, you only need to drop inside of the map (thanks to teleporting) and go straight to point xy. That's it! The only thing requiring you to explore is the sightseeing log - an activity which very few players partake in without looking up a wiki.
It's still my favorite mmo, don't get me wrong! I just wish there was more unique content to each map in order to make worlds feel more alive in general, force more player to hop around instead of lingering around Limsa's crystal while waiting for queue to pop.
if there's one things all of my pets never wanted anything to do with after taking a sniff, it's gummy bears - even my old dog, which was basically a pig in disguise. Says a lot about candies, huh? (not that we would've fed them these deadly treats to them anyway, we're just curious about their reaction post-sniff).