Yeah I see what your saying, the thing that I think contradicts this is the first mission is level 25, this suggests that the level system must be somewhat in place, he does talk about being level 26 and you being good to go suggesting if your level 26 you will start at 26 and be a high enough level to do the first mission that has a level 25 cap. I can only speculate on my own interpretation on what he says, everything you have said does make sense.