First, an explanation of where we are. I created a new character after the feature patch, used a level 20 scroll in the starter instance, and proceeded with all available story. The experience from this (including opening up some sections of map and nabbing some waypoints along the way, along with credit for 1 or 2 events) got me from 20 to 23. Between a variety of events, a lot of exploring Queensdale and Metrica, and actually fully map-completing Kessex, I managed to get to level 30 (60% of the way to 31). Again I proceeded with all the story available to me. I am now level 32 (21% to 33). That’s 2 levels. Not even 2 full levels.
For story-focused players, it could always be a little bit of a slog for that level or two between personal story missions, but it was spread out enough to be not -too- bad. Now I need 8 levels before I can continue the story. 8 straight levels of something I don’t want to be doing. I’ve already map-completed on two characters, I have 0 interest in EotM train, already have all 8 crafting professions maxed on other chars, etc etc, and even if I hadn’t already done it all, story is what I’m interested in when I make a new character in the first place. Play the way you want to play, yes?
So, what I propose is that each personal story mission reward a full level’s worth of xp, so that each set of missions gets you about halfway to the next set (some sets are 4 and some are 6 iirc, but it balances out on the average). Not only does this significantly reduce the gap, but the predictability of it also means that a player who knows what he/she is doing can readily plan out exactly where they need to get to to be able to go through the entire story uninterrupted. It also means personal story can be changed to start at level 6 with subsequent requirements of 7, 8, 9, and 10 to take away some of the initial gap people have been complaining about but still maintain the chunk of story intended by the current design.
tl;dr: Each personal story step should give one full level of xp.