They're going with a Baldur's Gate formula from what I understood: hard cap with different level caps unlocked by eventual expansions or sequels. I personally don't mind, I prefer low level D&D anyway and a huge amount of levels could either make the "numbers" grow out of control or simply devalue levelling itself.
I agree with this. I would much prefer less levels in the game as you get more power gain from each level. In the IE and NWN games you would level, and be ready to get into combat to try that new spell you got from getting level 3 spells unlocked, or to try that new feat out, or to see if you can go back and finally unlock that chest. In most modern games with leveling systems that are higher, like Skyrim, you level up and you are barely any more powerful than before (woopity doo!!! I do 3% more damage with power attacks!) so it feels like the same thing it did 5 minutes ago. Although, Skyrim's Feat system made this a little better than some IMHO, but only when the Feat in question made a significant change like the 2 handed casting feats or the feat where healing restored stamina. Certain feats made you feel powerful others though... yawn.
I want leveling to matter. It is a very gratifying experience to feel more powerful immediately after leveling, and many games throw this out of the window for a higher number for the sake of a higher number.
I am glad Obsidian is going for a lower number here. It will also mean we won't have to reboot our character every sequel (crosses fingers) to the game like the ME series. That was something that truly irritated me from the very beginning of ME2. Although, at least ME2 tried to explain it through the story. ME3 just did it and didn't care if it made sense.
This.
Leveling should be for players to make some conscious choices about the direction of their characters and not merely for automatic increases of points in some aspects of characters (hit points, attributes, saves, etc.). Fewer but meaningful level-ups is better than many empty level-ups (like in the later stages of the DA games).