Doing extra fetch quests and walking longer will not teach players to stay out of the fire or optimize their skills.

This happens in every MMORPG with a level cap increase or tiers of content. Players who put in 100 hours to get to level 50 think that every new player should do the same, or their recreational gaming "sacrifice" is devalued. But new players will balk at a game that requires the full time to hit cap before even trying new expansion content, so developers do trim the time required. It's inevitable that the 1-50 leveling/story will be eased, so let's discuss how.