If you have done the Jaggedpine Poacher Heads quest (or at least read the story), the poachers in the zone have been killing and maiming all the animals in the forest. By them doing all these unspeakable things (and more) to all these critters it's no wonder they hate everyone that comes into the zone. Everyone starts off with bad faction ranging from not so good to could not possibly get any worse without even looking at an animal.
If you need pelts, hunt up the poachers, if you want faction the closest you can get is killing the gnolls. As for hunting in general, it's not any worse than hunting up in EW. Actually in many respects it's easier (the zone is smaller, there are fewer mobs roaming around in places, and there are possibly more factions).
Try not to blame Sony for things you don't understand.