I agree with almost all of this..
Its actually something that should already be there tbh...
And no it doesn't feel weary AOish, i know what you mean and i agree, but apparently whats AOish simply aint good enough to keep people around, times change and so should AO... New and more modern approaches to basic things like this might actually be good.. (Dont even get me started on AOs weary AOish GUI that lacks almost all of modern GUI features like quest area markers (A arrow with a M that only can be active for one mission at a time doesn't qualify, if it was a new MMO it would be considered a joke..), GPS routes, Quest NPC markers etc..)
Level ranges on BS also need to widen, but this shouldn't be done at the expanse of a BS thats actually running, hence let lowbies join the TL 5 BS and the TL 7 BS.. Aka new level ranges being like 130-174 and 175-220 or there abouts.. Sure the 180s will get slaughtered but atleast they will have a chance to get some VP (right now they dont even get to get slaughtered for VP, they just dont get them)