I'm totally against level sync as well...can't even express how much I'm against it.
People who think it didn't effect FFXI really that much, hence ruined it, have no fucking clue about how it destroyed the whole immersion with the world. On Lvl 20 you knew "ok now it's time to prepare for my departure to Jeuno", On lvl 18 you knew "now I gotta get the items for the SJ quest". On 25 you knew "I need to get to Rank 3 City Missions so I can start my airship pass quest so I can go on lvling in Kazham"...all your way from 1-75 the game was "forcing" you to go into all kinds of areas all over the world and that was how it SHOULD be, then lvl sync came...
BUT, in FFXI it became neccesarry at some point to implement such a system...but only for one stupid reason, cause it was impossible to lvl solo at a reasonable pace. Still it destroyed the world, might sound exaggerating but it did.
When I started FFXI, it took me 1 year to get my first Job to 75(including subjobs etc). You wanna know how many areas I visited in that time for lvling purposes? I remember each and every single one of em.
- Lvl 1-12: Ghelsba Outpost
- Lvl 12-14: La Theine Plateu
- Lvl 14-21: Valkurm Dunes
- Lvl 21-25: Qufim Island
- Lvl 25-28: Yuhtunga Jungle
- Lvl 28-33: Yhoator Jungle
- Lvl 33-37: Garlaige Citadel, Crawlers Nest
- Lvl 37-42: Crawlers Nest, Gustav Tunnel, Eastern Altepa Desert
- Lvl 42-46: Crawlers Nest, Kuftal Tunnel, Boyahda Tree, Western Altepa Desert
- Lvl 46-50: Crawlers Nest, Boyahda Tree, Kuftal Tunnel, Lufaise Meadows
- Lvl 50-52: Crawlers Nest, Cape Terrigan, Boyahda Tree, Quicksand Caves
- Lvl 52-56: Boyahda Tree, Cape Terrigan, Quicksand Caves, Misareux Coast
...and so forth and so on...there are still dozens of other places you could lvl and I have lvld, like Ro'Maeve, Sky, Sea, not to mention the Aht URghan Areas that came later on.
You wanna know how this changed after Lvl sync?
- Lvl 1-20: Start Areas+Valkurm Dunes
- Lvl 20-75: Qufim Island
Sounds awesome, right?
Yeah, now that I think about it, THAT is what I want in FFXIV...have dozens of areas with absolute no meaning to them(even less then they already do). Would make the world feel more alive too. /sarcasm
PS: I remember all the hate threads about people complaining they want to be able to solo efficiently for lvls...well now you got that and for quite some time. Lvling solo through leves is just way too fast(compared to what to do on the way to 50) but PT lvling is faster, so now people complain they want to be able to form PTs with anyone on any lvl, through lvl sync...get your priorities straight...before demanding change over change over change...