The participation numbers don’t lie: most racers want short events. I wish it weren’t true (I prefer longer) but the field sizes show that the masses prefer short. As we get into peak Zwift season I’m hopeful that more of the longer events will start attracting more participation.
Makuri is not used for a large proportion of races. I’m scanning the calendar and that’s simply not the case. In the next 24 hours (from right now) there are 12 races in Makuri. There are 24 in London, 36 in Watopia, 12 in Richmond, 7 in Innsbruck, 11 in New York, 11 in Crit City, 11 in France, 6 in Scotland. If you saw too many Makuri events at a certain time, that’s just bad luck on a given day, not a pattern of preferring that world.
The limited climb portal options are by design. They want to force people onto a given climb so there are more people visible on the climb. That’s the “why”. Many people disagree with the choice but that’s what they did.
Your trainer problems sound super annoying and it would be interesting to find out if it works reliably with other apps. That’s probably the best reason to try another program. Also based on your comments over on that thread, if you do decide to use Zwift again, or if you have connection instability with other apps, I would second the suggestion to try connecting via ANT+. My US$19 ANT+ adapter (including extension cable) is quite reliable and pairs quickly (also using macOS).
Good luck with your trainer and enjoy exploring some new ways to ride indoors. Nothing wrong with doing all the free trials and finding out if you like one of them better.