If that were the case I could already level up past 50
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This is actually a very good point. All of the quests from 2.1 to 2.5 require you to be level 50 and are required in order to access Ishgard... Even if the quests reward no xp, the content itself will cause you to be well on your way to 60 before you even have access to the expansion. With this in mind it suddenly does seem likely to me that there will be a quest within Ishgard to unlock the ability to make the 50-60 level progression. I didn't think it likely before but I see no other way to handle this now...
Did you even bother to read my post? I already pointed out that even if the quests themselves offer no xp the content itself (killing stuff, dungeons, trials) will reward enough xp to have you well on your way to 60.
As for the leveling curve I wasn't aware that they'd made any statements at all yet. I find it very hard to believe they'd make it so steep after 50 given the more casual audience of this game. Care to give a source for that? I recall them saying the story content covering 50-60 would be as long as the 1-50 story stuff but that is not the same thing as the leveling speed.
The quickest way of doing 50-60 will naturally be to do the new dungeons, so without having finished the 2.55 questline so you can access all that, levelling would be pretty slow. I doubt we'll see a repeat of what the Northern Thanalan FATE situation was in 2.0 - I got my DRG from 41 to 50 in about nine hours of fating thanks to that, which is hardly the way you're meant to experience the game.
There will probably be some leves in Ishgard, but there are leves all the way up to 45 at the main cities for DoH that don't require any unlocking (except the ones to deliver to the leve camps) so I would expect level 50 and 55 available right away with 3.0, but I could see them requiring recipes you need Ishgard access in order to craft.