I really hope they don't just raise the level cap to 110...

[CaptainLagbeard]

It would definitely be a lot of work as all the quests, dungeons, mobs and gear for ARR would have to adjusted, but reworking ARR's progression would ultimately let them be safe from going over level 100 for an expansion or two. And it would let them rebalance ARR's content to the years of powercreep that's happened.

[TeresaFortell]

They would have to rework the whole level sync system to do that. Otherwise, Bozja might get a boost in popularity for that.

[Canadane]

It'll be a great time to just divide all numbers cleanly(ish) in half.
ARR goes up to level 25. HW 30. SB 35. ShB 40. EW 45. DT 50, where we are now.

Meanwhile all your skills are still there, they're just learned at the halfway level they'd normally be at.

We can then either take our new expansion to 55 or 60, whatever we have another 50 levels to play with numerically before we're back to where we are now.

[CaptainLagbeard]

It'll be a great time to just divide all numbers cleanly(ish) in half.
ARR goes up to level 25. HW 30. SB 35. ShB 40. EW 45. DT 50, where we are now.

Meanwhile all your skills are still there, they're just learned at the halfway level they'd normally be at.

We can then either take our new expansion to 55 or 60, whatever we have another 50 levels to play with numerically before we're back to where we are now.

There's not too much reason to touch the Expansions, as they generally have you getting a new skill or trait at even levels and unlocking a new dungeon at odd levels. Pretty much the only one really affected would be HW, and only because AST, MCH and DRK start off in ARR levels.
On ARR, you do have a few levels that don't even unlock anything.

For Duties in ARR, the levels are 15, 16, 17, 20, 24, 28, 32, 34, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47 and 50.
As for skill progression, it slightly varies between Jobs, but let's look at BLM for the sake of this. The levels they learn new things in ARR, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 26, 30, 35, 40, 42, 44, 45, 50.

For BLM, levels 3, 7, 9, 11, 13, 19, 21, 22, 23, 27, 31, 33, 36, 39, 43, 46, 48, 49 could be completely deleted without affecting their gameplay throughout ARR as long as the XP requirements and stat gains from the levels were spread out between all the remaining ones.

[Supersnow845]

If you halved the levels but made each level require double the experience you’ve fundamentally changed absolutely nothing.

Like who cares if you finish DT at 50 or 100 when the cadence of earned skills is exactly the same

The problem isn’t the number, it’s how slowly job kits come together

[TaleraRistain]

I know they've said they were considering how to avoid going to 110. Maybe they don't end up doing that and still have the normal 10 levels to 110. But they might build on how they wanted to give us things to buy with tomes that weren't just gear. Maybe they make a leveling system where we can earn other things like character customization options, ability glamours, etc.

[Veritas-Ancora]

If you halved the levels but made each level require double the experience you’ve fundamentally changed absolutely nothing.

Like who cares if you finish DT at 50 or 100 when the cadence of earned skills is exactly the same

The problem isn’t the number, it’s how slowly job kits come together

Correct. Though if they let XP run wild, you're going to have ARR players at L70.

I'm not a mathematician so I'm not even going to begin to guess the work that will be involved. It's definitely not "split it in half lol" because the first 10 levels should still be a piece of cake.

[Asako]

We just need to get sucked into another shard. Stripped of your power back to level 1. Access to a few jobs and everything else is new. At the end of the expansion you leave the shard and merge with your original character again. This allows new players to come in and join the game straight away without being locked behind story, they just don't merge with anything when they finish the expansion. It's a blank slate for all.

[Just have an option to return to old characters to do roulettes / old content via an Inn so revisiting body is non canon.]

[Gaddes]

Maybe they could use this as an opportunity to do something like Merit points / Master levels like FFXI does? That sort of thing requires more nuance/thought than just simply adding 10 ilvls, but it'd allow players more control over what aspects/attributes are leveled up on their characters.

[Khryseis_Astra]

Then I'm thinking ok, maybe something simpler like just adding a secondary level to each job, call it say "Assencion Level" that goes from 1-10 and this becomes the new level gauge that increases by 10 each release..

I could see this being how they do it… and I wouldn’t mind it. It would trick my brain into thinking I’m progressing again as the levels start at small numbers again and go up. Just going to 110 would feel meh.

I really don’t see them moving away from the “advance 10 levels every expansion” template, since that factors so heavily in when dungeons and trials pop up in story. It’s kind of the foundation every expansion is built on. But it should feel like it’s getting a refresh, even if it’s the same thing just called something different.