Job Level 1?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I want to point out that saying that jobs shouldn't start at level 1 for reasons that going from 1 to 30 (or 1 to 50) is a long and boring experience... it's an irrelevant point to bring up because time investment is tentative. To give a simplified example, let's say going from 30 to 70 requires 100,000 experience points. Now let's say going from 1 to 70 requires 100,000 experience. See what's being said here? The exp curve can always be adjusted so that the time investment remains roughly the same regardless of starting level. However, only one of these options gives the feeling of truly leveling your character from the ground up..

See, I find continuously adjusting the experience gain defeats the purpose. The easier leveling becomes, the less invented I'll be in it. For example, grinding the jobs I haven't leveled yet through PotD or Beast Tribe dailies is a mindless task I do because it's efficient. I rarely think about, and half the time don't even bother doing the quests associated with whatever job I'm leveling until I'm at 60 or I decide to take it into roulettes. Frankly, the one aspect of PotD I find incredibly dull is leveling. Why? It's so fast, it's rendered meaningless. Compare that to old RPGs where I actually enjoy the same grind-y process. A primary reason is because you'll notice the power difference in linear focused games, whereas in XIV, it doesn't matter due to your playstyle ultimately revolving around a static rotation. Another bigger factor is single player games actively hinder progression or pose a higher challenge if you happen to be underleveled. XIV doesn't. Still using that Esoteric gear from Heavensward's launch? Toss on a little extra from all the extra lore you get or just upgrade and you can do practically everything. Undergeared for that raid? Other players will carry you because they're likely better geared.

The lack of direct incentive to level hurts my personal enjoyment. When I can more or less equip a full set of Ironworks and keep it all the way to 60, leveling, once again, becomes something I do. Not something I feel empowered by. I had fun the first job through because the MSQ accentuated my experience. A few jobs thereafter still retained that fresh feeling. Now that I'm on my fourth and fifth? It exists as something to do and little more. If they aren't going to enrich the experience in some manner. Make it as fast as possible so I can move on to other stuff. At least, that's my current stance.