I'm not going to quote Ragnarok, but this is in response to his.
Games cannot balance around both those who speed run through it and those who are completionists. You balance the game around the expectation that most who buy the game will do main story quests and maybe a few side. If people are going to speed run, and thus be under leveled and the game becomes too hard, that's on them. If people are going to over level by doing everything, and the game's too easy later on, that's on them. This has been a common element of cRPGs for decades.
You don't balance the game around the expectation that people will speed run and then cap those who do everything. By doing so, you cut out character growth and progress, forcing characters to stall in their personal journey to become better. You also remove a major award system in an RPG.
Plus, once you hit the next area, suddenly all that XP you've been earning hits your character. Thousands of XP suddenly got your character, levelling them up possibly multiple times, if you've been doing everything. So, instead of slow progress through levels, you stall and then leap forward. That's weird and you don't even get to appreciate some of the levels your character went through.
