Ok so after rereading the initial posts, edits, and several pages, I have a suggestion/concern. With this system, a player could master all the abilities/skills/traits from a job without even playing it for a minute? For example, a current rank 50 gladiator would have access to all the DRK skills after completing their respective quest?

Forgive me if it has been brought up before, but I would suggest that you need to play a specific role/job (say DRK) to earn points in this particular job. I'm all for allocation of points through a path and reallocation of points within that path, but I think 2 different jobs should have completely independent paths. I think I would prefer earning DRK points separately from PLD points and not be able to interchange the said points.

As the OP said one of the main reason I have liked XI so much is that you can do everything with a single char. Personally, character progression is my biggest incentive to play the game, so I would like to feel like every ability that I use and that defines my playstyle have been earned and mastered.

This is an example of how I could see two propositions mesh together, i-e the title system that is on top of your class and the talent-tree mechanic that defines of how you progress in that said title/job.