Take Guild Wars for example, you reached level 20 in Prophecies about 3/4 of the way through the story if you weren't really trying and you could get it much sooner if you were. In all the other campaigns you hit 20 before leaving the "starter" area lol. It never really struck anyone who enjoyed the game as odd or limiting.

The only problem I see with FFXIV is that I believe it was originally designed with a level cap raise in mind, and thus 50 was never meant to be the end-game rank and the current skills and equipment reflect that.