Back when I first heard of FFXIV one of the things I was most excited about was the way they said characters would develop depending on your choices. Well since they have shown interest in changing the physical levels and how stats are distributed I thought I should give them some ideas.

My thoughts are that you grow stats, not levels. Basically if you play as a Rank 25 Gladiator you have X attack and X defense etc. But this system takes away any choice as to what players value in a character. So you add stats on top of the others.

Basically your primary stats are given through your Class rank. But depending on the class you choose, you will grow secondary stats that follow you across all classes.

Like if I play as archer, I would be gaining SP as usual but I would also gain XP which would go to Dexterity. Once I get enough xp My dexterity levels up, giving me another point of dexterity (or more depending on what they find to be a good balance of character development and keeping class uniqueness). That is enough to make my character better at dodging than someone who plays gladiator but not enough to ruin class uniqueness. That plus it means that characters will reflect how players play the game. People who like to hit hard play as marauder, while people who like to dodge lots of attacks like to play archer or pugilist.

Each class is given a stat or two that will then raise as players use that particular class. And because of the simplicity of the system SE could easily increase the level cap of the stats. That means that players will always have somewhere to grow.