As per the Poll sub-form thread on the rate of levelling, I copy + paste my latest comments here for consideration as a suggestion:
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Adventure EXP was introduced to make it still feel rewarding whenever you were engaged in RP that doesn't involved killing enemies, right? The idea was that talking to other players shouldn't feel less rewarding than going to a dungeon.
Well, in practice since Adventure EXP is awarded on top of any other EXP earned, it is Adventure EXP which has massively accelerated levelling. For example, with a 20RPR you receive 120 EXP per tick (20 RPR + 100 Adventure EXP), or 1440 EXP per real world hour. Compared to the olden days in which you earned the base RPR per tick (240 EXP per hour) that means that a 20RPR player is gaining 1200 EXP every single hour. That is a 5x increase in EXP per hour.
I suggest that the mistake was in making Adventure EXP count alongside any other source of income. It's not a replacement for EXP lost from not adventuring, it's a steroid on top of adventuring that is received without stopping.
There ought not to be EXP caps, or any winding back of the clock to before Adventure EXP or Writs existed. Instead, Adventure EXP should be made what it was always meant to be- A way to make RP feeling rewarding. Adventure EXP should be granted up to the point for the maximum for that hour gained without any other EXP income source. I.e., a 20 RPR character should receive up to 1200 EXP from Adventure EXP, minus any other source of EXP from killing, writs, etc. If you go and kill some enemies and receive 800 EXP, you will then receive 400 EXP from Adventure EXP in this scenario.