What you describe is actually what we have currently. The xp hit isn't nearly as high as folks make it out to be, and while yes, it is much more steep at higher levels, that is simply because we don't want to see a whole server of max level folks. Reaching max level shouldn't be the end all be all anyway, but again, I think this argument is going over a lot of heads.
Despite this I will try again one last time.
What you are asking for is what is practiced on many popular MMOs. World of Warcraft is actually free to play now from what I hear, as are many others.
But you're not there, even though these games have better graphics, crafting systems, and player count.
You're here.
Because this game we play offers something different; consequences. Actual tangible ones. If everyone can hit level 20 easier than they do now the accomplishment means nothing. The struggle is what brings the reward. This is what makes the stories we tell feel tangible. Without risk we are just a bunch of nerds behind screens talking at eachother.
I think the player is well aware of where they're at by the way, so I don't think there's any need for the patronizing, condescending, and passive aggressive attitude.
Also. Why do we encourage our players to leave and play other games just because of constructive criticism? Isn't the entire point of this thread? Isn't that the entire thing you guys have been wanting us to do here? The point is, we DON'T want to play on other servers or other games, because we have RP, and people that we enjoy playing with here, and some of us actually care about the server and wish to see it improved instead of going through this down-ward spiral it has been going down lately.
If there's no place for that here, and you guys can't accept constructive criticsm, and don't even want to take what we say into consideration without jumping on us like a pack of rabbid animals, then maybe you're right, and this server isn't for us.