My opinion.
Do I hate/dislike the requirement? Nope, I actually like the continuity of the story.
Do I think the filler quests could use some reshuffling? Yes, while it wasn't as bad for 2.5 and 2.5 part 2, 2.3 went a bit insane with the pointless filler. And it's not that the story should be shortened, it's just that a lot of the filler quests could be served by 1-2 well written quests instead of 5-6 long convoluted ones.
As to what new players will think, I'm not sure they're going to complain as much as people like to say they will. 2.1-2.5 may seem like an unbearable jog to us, but to someone just starting the game, it's a whole lot of content that they get to enjoy before going on to even more content. I think lack of access to jobs/areas may sting at first, but it's an achievable reward that they are guaranteed to get with time. I remember the feeling when I first hit 50 on City of Heroes (41-50 was an experience slog) and felt the satisfaction of unlocking Kheldians, an epic archtype. I think a lot of people will view unlocking Ishgard and the new jobs as a goal.