I like the hard cap. It puts a limit to compulsive grinding done by perfectionists who think no such thing as too much power (or do not feel perfect without having everything). For people who are hardcore and have lots of free time, their level cap may be much higher than someone who is casual or who (may be hardcore but) cannot afford the time to grind characters. It is nice (and possibly refreshing these days) for a game to say "You played enough! You have enough power! Beat the game with what you have and play something else or get a life!"
There are games that encourage grinding for as long as possible. If players are trained to grind a game (for min-max reasons), they may see another game with a soft cap to be ground.
In current Starsector, I do not feel my characters are complete until at least level 60, and I prefer to level up even higher, possibly up to 80+. But I dislike the grinding required to attain such power. Before 0.65, grinding past 35+ was tedious. Then 0.65+ made things easier, and I got spoiled with high power. (I love high-level Starsector much more than level 1 Starsector; I refuse to play missions because ships are too slow and weak.)
As for progression, I like to have my characters reach max power or level cap relatively quickly, not near the end of the game. Besides, that tends to be a treadmill, not truly increasing difficulty. If enemies get stronger, but so do you equally or more, then it is just a treadmill.