Am I playing the game wrong?

[HisShadowX]

I am a new player (highest char @ 36) and I feel like I'm not getting what I should from the game.

1. I gain so much experience that I level way ahead of the MSQ which results in being synced, which in many cases removes the functionality of the spells I've earned. It also deters exploring the world and doing other quests as I detest having spells available then having them turned off. That is such bad form. How can I prevent this?
2. The game is too easy, near zero risk of death. I believe I've completed 4 or 5 different dungeons at this point and they've been super easy. Open world game play is even easier thus far. Is there a hard mode so a decent challenge can be achieved?
3. I have transitioned from rogue to ninja and lancer to dragoon thus far. In both cases the game play didn't change. I thought the new jobs would be more transformative, did I miss a quest (or quest chain) that would have made it be more game changing?

Thanks

So sadly with the old JOB system it is going to require you to do job quests for job abilities from levels 30-60. So all ARR and Heavenward content will require you to do job quests. I can tell you this jobs can feel very different from expansion to expansion. Ninja is a great example of a job that feels so different as you level. Sadly again abilities are locked for ARR and Heavenward but after that all other job abilities will auto unlock and change how to play that job.

Black Mage I hate playing but once you get past 60 the job changes so much it makes it interesting.