I suggest keeping crafting and faction leves but get rid of battle leves and replace them with side quests completely.

It's a lot more work for the development team, but right now there is a huge lack of anything to do and a feeling of repetitiveness when doing battle leves.

Not only should side quest be the main way to gain battle experience but they should also act as way to encourage players to explore more.

If we look at the majority of current (and upcomming for that matter) MMO's they all provide quest based gameplay, I don't know why FFXIV should be any different, sure some people will argue that being different is FFXIV's strength and that it sets it apart and yea it clearly does but so far it doesn't seem to be paying off.