I can understand from a story perspective why SE wants us to clear the 2.55 story prior to Heavensward. However - it's ultimately going to hurt them. If you haven't noticed - there haven't been a lot of review in progress stories from critics. Many critics have flat our acknowledged that as a returning player who reviewed the game when it was first released and hit level 50 - they assumed they would be able to access the expansion zones. Should we blame them? What other MMO expansion has ever locked out players who reached the level cap? This is just going to piss off returning players and give the game less exposure from websites who can't conduct a review in progress.