Sure in FFXI this was the case but in FFXIV you aren't really given many options are you? 3 maps which you can rank up to 50 on...forget the fact that on those same maps there are crystals that probably give you R50 and possibly up to R70 leves but those leves haven't been released yet. The game could've had different zones instead and pushed you in certain directions and given you options, like there could've been 3 different zones (one in Thanalan, La Noscea, Shroud region) for R10 players, and it moves you to new zones for R20 players, etc.This isn't because of the game, its because of the players.
..and hell no it doesn't. At R30 I can still make a ton of SP running R20 leves on higher star difficulties, and this isn't to mention leve linking. The game doesn't encourage anything than what its encouraging now which is staying in one region and pumping out leves at camps nearby...such as Haltali and Broken Water, there's 6 leves and you can do Levinshower making it 7 and not to mention fail and repeat...the game is horribly designed.FFXIV actually does try to encourage you to go to other regions by offering a lower number of levequests at camps than people can accept but people still stay in the same zone and just go to a different, similar looking camp with lower level leves then bump up the difficulty level.