leveling isn't supposed to be hard. content is supposed to be hard.

taking one year to reach cap on something does not instill achievement. It's more like, why the hell did it take this long to level? I finally got weaver to 50 a few weeks ago after leveling it since november. I was more annoyed with how long it took. It also doesn't help that it was incredibly boring. Also by reducing the amount of exp you get from everything, it will take a casual player even longer to reach cap. so what may take them 3 months could turn into 6 months. SE is trying to get players not drive them away. No one is into the "hardcore" grind anymore. This isn't 2000 anymore.