I started a new character fresh when I joined AEF and man, those poor new people it takes forever to reach 31 from 30 and I just think its boring cause its 1-30 without the excitement of placing stats. And for all you "full build" people, builds are competent from early 20's in helping a team.
the thing is, i was beginner just as anyone, i am useful at lvl 1 actually, as i block enemies and bugger them to force blocks and shit, but so can you and your newly arrived pals in sword ! this game has a good learning curve, after month or two ur capable of blocking somewhat (and yeah, go duels with ur new people, show em feints, held attacks, rotating into attacking and such), nothing helped me more than one hour on duel with my friend explaining all this stuff
with the leveling, i do feel the frustration of not being able to redistribute points every now and then, but that happens pretty much from 20+
some of the guys who started playing way after me are now gen 4-5 already, the somewhat young studying people and such, the working guys made 1-2 generations since the beginning...everything is doable, just plan your build smart so you can start wrecking enemies or supporting ur team asap and you are fine, in the time you realize how much u actually enjoy being peasant and supporter, you will be lvl 20 and voila = dangerous even more!
i understand people can get a little, erm, frightened by the amount of XP required, but then again, once you are lvl 30 (some ppl plan builds for 32 or 33 even, so
), you find urself on the winning side quite often, if your team, including YOU, do well
i would not change the system that much, the point in retirement is, it should be accomplishment, not something you do just by accidental playing (2mill xp till retire from 30-31 is way too low if you would have to make 6 mill to lvl 30, that wont solve anything)