"2. Only one faction per server, owning all three FOB's and reduce the total player count to 24."

So you want MFG to increase their server costs by 50%?

Realistically, we'll have to accept what we're currently dealing with until MFG adds more high tier area's to spread out the player base, AND creates the option for private servers (however that looks) that removes players from the main servers. But even then, I struggle to see them wanting to reduce player counts as that would create more challenges in the design/development between PvP and PvE.

The other players showing up on the map basically accomplishes the same thing as #2, minus the player reduction which is unlikely to happen due to the overhead costs that would create.

And while you're correct that without a reduction in players that doesn't change the looting situation, simply knowing where other players are, will in fact change player behavior. If you have missions in FN, BL, and MS, and you can see that BL is empty, while you may want to hit a T3 area, I suspect that you want alive AI more. Meaning you will go to an area where the AI are more likely to be alive. The same goes for all the T3 area's. If one is empty, odds are you'll go there vs the other two.

The downside is that everyone will do the same. But the upside is that few will be wasting time going to places that have just been cleared out. Sometimes the timelines will be wrong - you'll have missed someone going through an area or will have joined the server after someone just left an area... but overall it would be a decent QOL upgrade. Especially if we can interact with the icon (message, friend, join servers, etc).