+1 for the "pacing is really weird"
It's all ok if you don't take LZ, but if you do and you take her seriously then you pretty much beeline straight for this fight right after you go to the grove.
In this case it doesn't matter if the level cap will be higher, because you still won't have hit it because you won't have done all the other stuff that gets you the experience to get it...
The way the game presents everything at the moment is "tadpole bad, do something asap!" and then gives you two options, Halsin or Creche. One of these is what you're "meant" to do, and one just doesn't work.
