I kinda agree with both Teeth and Phew here.
In cRPG even retiring is not as "GRIND-ish" as most things in other games...BUT retiring DOES suck in my book and that's why I no longer do it.
** I wouldn't mind if they reworked the retiring process **
...It could still TAKE THE SAME AMOUNT OF EXP (and therefore time), but what if you were lvl 30 the entire time (or at least start from 25 or something)? You'd still have to regain the 8.5 million exp or whatever it takes, you just wouldn't have to start at lvl 1 again. That way there's still the time sink and something to work towards, but without the aspect of becoming weak as shit for a while each time.