I've written a small wall of text about serverfeatures a few minutes ago, and feel like this can apply to almost any cap, so here we go:
PLEASE DO NOTE, THIS TEXT HAS BEEN WRITTEN TO SOMEONE, ANSWERING/DISCUSSING SOME OF HIS STATEMENTS MADE - A FEW SENTENCES CAN BE OUT OF CONTEXT, BUT I'M YOU CAN READ BETWEEN THE BIG LINES.
Please note that rates have zero effect on as you said: 'bringing back the real sro.'
Those times are gone, and honestly servers back then weren't any special at all, it was fun due to the fact that there was a large playerbase to play with. Start there - advertise your server.
Now ask yourself the following: 'Why would people play my server, and not the 100-cap server 'Leetfillity Road?' - Make sure your server has attractive features. NOT the fucked up coin systems and what not. When talking about 'special, unique' features, think about Venture.
That being said, let's take a look at the rates now, starting with the XP/(SP) rates (this is my opinion, feel free to disagree)
I've read in your post that you want low rates, which is fine, really - but do note that this barely matters, you can hit the max cap in 1-day, and it'll be fine... As long as there is an endgame.
And that's really the only thing that matters - the endgame. Let's talk a bit about that, since I've seen a dozen of potentially great servers fail there. And the problem is simple, there is too much to gain from brainless botting, which completely ruins all the PvP and jobwar potential. Fix that. Make sure people don't feel the need to farm elixers and stones 24/7.
That's it for now - I could elaborate on a lot of these subject, there's a lot to added to them too, I just don't have the time right now. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to hear my opinion about a great server - with a potential of succeeding.