As long as you can't set an arbitrary level for the level cap, I can't imagine this becoming too easy to abuse. I imagine the option for the cap will be anywhere in your party's level range. At least this way it will force you to find at least one person of the appropriate level for your desired camp. I can totally see myself finding someone in the level 29-30 range for a party and then syncing down just to stay in the jungles longer and avoid the Citadel when leveling subjobs.

Also, since it's introducing a party specific level cap, I think it's fairly clear that if you cap down to, say, level 45, you will only have access to whatever abilities your job has at that level. It's only gear that's getting scaled (and it looks like it's getting scaled to be comparable to "common" items), not abilities.

I'm just wondering if when they say "common" items they mean NQ or items that are widely circulated in the game (because, to be honest, I see more people with certain HQ pieces rather than the NQ, like courage rings over sardynox rings at lower levels).