Is Velious a good expansion to level 50 to 60 in?
 

Or is it more of a playground for max or near max level characters?

Most Live characters were not L60 by the time Velious released. I think the biggest "leveling" locations will be Kael and Velk's lab, but I wouldn't be suprised to see some 1-group HoT, more SG than I remember (especially now that everyone knows how much of a loot pinata it is), and some Skyshrine groupage (if only for factioning). There is lots of end-game content and 50+ zones for people to level in.

velious is great for anyone who is 30+. Crystal caverns is still one of my favorite zones and you can start there as early as 28 on the top floor. Eastern wastes, great divide, tower of frozen shadow, iceclad ocean, and cobalt scar all provide areas to level sub 50. After that velks, dragon necropolis, sirens grotto, kael and skyshrine are nice exp areas with decent loot.

It does offer a tremendous amount of raid targets as well, but the expansion does not forget the lower levels- part of what makes it so great.

Actually it explicitely forgets the low levels, which is part of what makes it so great. But focusing 30+ instead of max_level+ allows others to enjoy it earlier. I agree that CC and TOFS are great sub-50 zones. I'm also so excited to see all the things to do there 50 and 60+!

Its kind of 30+. But it targets everyone. TOFS is still my all time favorite zone. There is just so much fun to be had in Velious. Rygorr and Giant fort groups were always fun. KDS surprises. Crystal Caverns is another great zone.
Then you have a challenging loot/exp zone like sirens.
There are multiple quadding opportunities for those people.
Easily attainable plat making opportunities by farming Quest gems.
Lots of tradeskills and quests for good to great items, and then a Shit ton of raid content. Plus its Giants and Dragons.

Even though I dinged 60 in Sebilis, I did the vast majority of 51-60 in Velk's Lab.

So a 50 cleric will have plenty of places to lvl come Velious? If I return to the game full time it will be on the cleric, and likely only when Velious hits

Velketors is a pretty fun zone to exp in imo

Velks, KD, ToFS, Sirens, Skyshrine among others.

This was the first thing I thought of. Most people like to talk about the dungeons and cities of Velious, but it certainly added some variety for the druids and wizards and groups who like to hunt outdoors, too.