Low levels in MMOs are usually more interesting for the reasons you stated: You're not necessarily required to fit a certain role or play style because the enemies aren't scaled up dramatically to account for new skills and tuned gear.

I always enjoy the leveling process for similar reasons, especially since end game is usually just gear grind, fight boss, replace old gear with new, repeat. However, just got to FFXIV endgame, so let's see if it breaks any molds... I doubt it.