Hell I've been a proponent of getting SP as a reward for guildleves since the beginning.
Think about the reason why they got rid of the hour limit in FoV though: Because the only people still playing FFXI are already at end game and nobody else is joining, hence the server merges. SE probably figured that it wouldn't hurt to give the few people that WOULD give FFXI a fresh start a way to catch up and get everything done quickly.
It's basically a sign that FFXI is almost on it's way out.