Jenova has its pros and cons. It's has a nice small town feel, but that means stuff like PF can be dead.

When I log into my Gilga character, the crowd in Limsa is overwhelming compared to it.

Not really understanding how you thing end game crafting is unforgiving on jenova though. I find it a little weird that you are judging it as one step from level 1. It's the same as looking at being BIS level 60 in battle classes from level 1, there is a huge jump.

Also when you get to end game crafting 7 million isn't that big of a deal. Hell, I'm a casual crafter and I've spent and regained at least 15 million on gear since the patch. All those guys making the 220 gear were pulling down 40 million easy just off that the first week.