HUGE pacing issue around level 40

[seekified]

Back at launch you basically had to FATE grind to finish off the 40s.

This. The current state of things is actually a vast improvement, because there's so much to do that gives you extra chunks of exp. I basically fated my way from 41 to 50 in one day in Northern Thanalan on my first go (and then proceeded to avoid that area for a year), but now with challenge logs and roulettes it's much easier.

The whole story quest jumping from 46 to 49 thing is probably to encourage players to do Aurum Vale a few times. That place gives out insane exp if you kill everything, despite its bad rep, actually has some interesting fights.