This is interesting, and from a game balance perspective.. much as I don't want to I am forced to agree with you on this. Its not normal for a level 2 adventurer to be allowed +30 resist buffs, and definitely changes the balance of the game for the worse.
Solution: Keep buffs on ship (and introduce even more buffs!), however make each buff station a ML requirement to use. This would have the overall net effect of grouping higher level players together in high level guilds, and vice versa, which seems a bit more balanced and realistic to me.
Agree on this as well. I think the renown and decay system should be scrapped entirely, and any such renown should be tied to character achievement, not guild achievement, and travel with the character from guild to guild in the form of 'fame' or something similar, which a guild can capitalize on collectively. I came up with some ideas to fix awhile ago but didn't seem to generate much interest, I probably worded it badly is why, but the premise holds.