I like the setting your skills higher option. You can never have to much defensive or melee skills.
You could also add a buff NPC that gives better buffs. Oak, crabs and vamperic thunder maybe?
If you have a toon that is in all 3 maybe the buff npc will give a low level XP buff, lets say like 20% or something? Instead of a 1 time infusion of 1500. It will be like the gift that keeps on giving.
I can not get on board with the higher buff idea, however, a buff bot inside the tier that gives a higher level buff I can get behind.
reasoning, if the buff bot in nexus gave oak3, 7.0 sham, etc then it would be just a PL tool that would defeat the purpose of progression through 1-70 and turn it into a 45 min ordeal. I believe, for new players that the 1-70 leveling is vital to get an understanding of how MQ2 works and how to work their crew.
with that said, making a druid is not for everyone's crew. some people may wish to run a 12 man without a druid and that's cool. so, when they progress into T3-T4 it would be reasonable to place a buff bot there to allow them access to the tier appropriate druid buff for their team instead of asking in OOC for a kind soul to mass buff druid buffs. I do believe eventually people come to the point where they do make that druid and intergrade them into their team, even if just for the buffs, spells they offer, but it is not needed for every crew.
hope that makes sense