Just as a clarifying point here...and I've withdrawn myself from either side of this arguement..."level locking" was originally introduced to Sony Games in the first Everquest when AA's where put in the game. AA's were introduced as something to keep players who had hit the level cap something to progress towards. Once AA's were introduced, the option to turn off level xp was given to others who were not at the level cap to work towards AA's as well. Originally you were given the option to have your xp go to leveling AA's, or you could put a % of your experience towards AA's and keep the rest going towards progressing in levels. Someone else out there from the olden days of EQ may be able to remember if there was a level requirement for switching xp over to AA's or not...honestly I'm not certain.
So, there's a history of "level locking" and AA's. It's not something Sony dropped in on EQII. It's been a part of Sony's games for awhile - and honestly until I can be certain that there was or wasn't a level requirement to begin working on AA's in the original EQ, I'm not going to put out any further hypothesis regarding what the developers had in mind when they put AA's in EQII...I don't work for Sony, so I have no idea.
Anyway...for the time being, the system is as the system does. Just gotta work around what you don't like...I have, and I'm begining to enjoy the game again. 