Welcome back. Ask Zyphyr Flux for an invite to a linkshell. He'll help you out.

For simple exping, you won't need any subjobs, but having CON at 14 for raise, cure, and protect really help. As far as pug goes, having leatherworker helps so you can repair most of your stuff. To get into a party, just sit around in uldah and shout for one.

The economy on Rabanastre is kinda wonky right now, and will undoubtedly become more unstable after the server merge, but will eventually stabilize later. However, nothing is TOO expensive aside from materia.

The repair for 1.5mil is a running gag. Usually the people who do that have 100/100 in their inventory, so if you try to repair it, it'll tell you you can't repair it because their inventory is full. Just trolling people who think they're clever to repair stuff for 1.5million.