Level Cap Increase

[Felis]

My main thought on the issue comes after working to finish the MSQ on my alts after hearing access to the bulk of the expansion would be gated behind it. It's not so bad in piecemeal over a year, but trying to cram the whole thing out at once is brutal, even with skipping cutscenes. If DoL/DoH cap increase is also stuck behind the MSQ, I imagine there will be a lot of angry crafters.

I doubt that we need to finish the MSQ to earn exp after level 50. It would be just not optimal exp with no access to lv51+ zones.
But to unlock the new lv51+ leves for crafters (if there are some in the expansion) you would need access to the new zones.