I have never, EVER understood why people can't understand the fact that (for all intents and purposes) Buburimu is a
twin zone to Valkurm Dunes. There is nothing about Valkurm that makes it superior for those levels. I've had friends powerlevel me in Tahrongi Canyon, and when it's time to move up, stare at me in agitation when I start heading to Buburimu as the logical place to go. There's something about the familiarity of Valkurm, I think, that leads to a misconception that it's really "the" place to go. When snippers are lying dead in their spawn points on the blistering sands, it never occurs to anyone to hop on the boat back in the other direction.
I love Buburimu. As to the "it's dark and depressing" argument, well ... Valkurm is annoyingly bright to me, to the point of hurting my eyes. I hate it. I can almost feel my character baking alive. I don't even like passing through Valkurm on the way to somewhere else. The whole place is saturated in bad vibes. I get flashbacks.
It was never as easy to get a party in Buburimu as it was in Valkurm, but it did indeed used to be possible. I think the bias mainly started for geographical reasons (Buburimu is only directly accessible from Windurst, while Valkurm connects to both Bastok and San d'Oria) ... but it truly has evolved into something sad.
As for the subjob item argument, well ... I prefer the Buburimu subjob set. While bogies are less common than ghouls, it's far easier to get a bloody cloth from them than it is to get a magicked skull.