The downtimes are intentionalFollow

/em dons tinfoil hat.

You may not be far from the truth. When they launched 1.0 there was a mechanism in it called fatigue which basically meant that if you started levelling too fast, the exp given for various things dropped off significantly. It was implemented (in my opinion) to prevent people from getting to end game before SE had a chance to implement some endgame to do (there was nothing to do at 50 in 1.0 at launch).

SE were smashed for it, people hated it and so they couldn't put it in the game again. But....if they were selectively excluding people, strategically managing who can access instances etc. then they could control the levelling speed of players. I made it to level 27 over the weekend - perhaps I will now be locked out for a few days to slow me down!

/em removes tinfoil hat.

Well, JP just lost their log-ins, so there goes that theory!

I knew it.

I KNEW IT!

Ever since WWII, the Japanese have been planning this day. The gaming industry became it's greatest weapon. It addicted us all on their media, stronger than any crack, causing several generations to neglect exercise and engage in poor eating habits so that we would become fat, addled slaves of their dominion, and this is the final step to break our will! WE MUST RESIST! WE MUST FIGHT!! WE MUST- ooo the nice lady with the colourful pills is here...