Okay so I've seen quite a few posts where people whine about the level requirement for Abyssea at level 30. Some people want it raised to 65 (70, 75, etc..) and some people want it removed so everyone can enter. The arguments for raising the cap are to prevent people from leeching their jobs from 30-75, thus making it much harder to level outside of Abyssea if you don't want to leech or can't find a party in which you can leech.
The arguments for removing the cap seem to be, "XP is so great in Abyssea, and levelling pre-Abyssea sucks!"
I've also seen a lot of posts regarding skill-ups and I'm primarily focusing on skilling up those weapon skills that have been ignored for years but now need capping for Abyssea staggers. (Club skill for example, on my RDM)
Well I had this idea, and I posted it on another thread (which didn't precisely fit into the context of that thread - so I got flamed lol) but anyway...
I suggest the addition of new Abyssea zones, each with specific level ranges (a requirement to enter, and a level which, if exceeded would cap/sync your level at the high limit.) These Abyssea zones could, perhaps, mirror the traditional xp party camps for that level range. So, for example, Abyssea-Qufim (Lv. 20-30), Abyssea-Yuhtunga Jungle (Lv.30-50), and Abyssea-Cape Terrigan (or Purgo-Nurgo Isle^^) (Lv.50-75).
SE could then decide whether or not to raise the level requirement for existing Abyssea zones.
My thoughts are that people could use these zones to level up their "lowbie" jobs in the same way that people do now in Abyssea, but that people could do so without "leeching" their xp. Everyone would be able to participate (even the people who are sync'ed) and would receive appropriate xp. Furthermore, they'd be able to skill up their magic/combat skills. This way you won't see level 90 WAR with 120 skill Great Axe or 90 RDM with lvl 100 enfeebling. People could use these lower level Abyssea zones to skill up their previously ignored weapon skills as well, so they could raise them high enough to adequately skill up in existing Abyssea zones.
It would also be cool if there were Notorious Monsters, similar in structure to the existing zones (combination of popped NMs, timed pops, lottery pops, etc.), that dropped gear appropriate for the level range corresponding to that zone.
I think this would bring some life back to the pre-endgame side of FFXI, and allow new players to feel welcome and part of the game. (Right now there are very few xp parties at any given time outside of Abyssea, so people are obligated to either solo, hope to find a leech/keyperson position, or hope to find enough people interested in a level-sync party. I'm sure this would be disheartening and discouraging for new players)
The only downside I see to this, is that people are probably interested in seeing some non-abyssea content added to the game.
So what do you guys think? =P
I'd add a dev tag to this, but I wanted to see what the community thought about it first.