I've said it before and I'll say it again. Leveling is just the BEGINNING of the experience of any MMORPG. OP must not be aware that the first MMOs didn't even have a concept of leveling. It wasn't always a defacto defining component of an MMORPG.

Leveling has it's moments, but in the end it's just the springboard you launch off of to reach the rest of the stuff in the game.