Very well written post from OP, completely captures the ideal of having consequences at the forefront of every action taken in what should be a deep word. It resonates with me even further having the carbon copy experience for a Windurst Taru BLM. That said, at any level threats should be present to maintain a sense of encouragement to further develop one's character or battle strategies, or even simply to find friends in common interest (i.e. party headed to Jeuno).

A pertinent question should be: Can the second Final Fantasy Online (FFXIV) afford to not be the second FFXI (FFXI-2)? In my experienced opinion since FFXIV alpha, there is too much FFXI chemistry left unused or ignored in an effort to touch base with a larger community outside of FFXIs fanbase. Which seems to me as a betrayal of the FF name, if those who don't want FFXI-2 you must realize that your even playing the same races...its inevitable that it comes with the feel of a 'spinoff' thats what Final Fantasy is, a long standing tweaked formula.

what about non combat jobs? your penalizing failure in combat, but those classes don't accrue XP through combat, you gonna subtract XP from a crafter for failing their synthesis?

miners/botanists/fishers aren't exactly helpless and it's not like they have to go back to town to switch to a combat class but what if they get blindsided by something they can't handle: your taking away XP that they had to farm up at collection points simply because they failed at something they naturally aren't good at?!?!
Gatherers and Crafters have no business around aggressive areas unless under a quest which should have ample safe routes. Crafters already loose all materials for a failed synth, and should not loose SP/XP. Gathering in high level areas comes with the risk of dying for high tier materials, death should incur losses as the jobs innately have no reprimand (weakness means nothing for gatherers) other than loosing prospective fish/ores/wood.