EDID is used to populate the supported resolution list including refresh rate. Having to manually select refresh rate is a safeguard against hardware issues preventing things from working properly at the maximum supported settings: if you have a flaky DP/HDMI port or cable that cannot quite get there, you end up with an unusable monitor and no simple means to lower settings to get a usable output. By defaulting at 60Hz, you get to manually bump it up and let it time out if it fails for whatever reason.
Exactly--read posts daily from people who get a black screen, but can hear the software running, because they experimented with refresh rate outside their monitor's capability just "to see if worked"...
Monitor sync breaks and they are clueless, floundering around. I can't believe how lazy some people are today about their systems. I insist on setting my settings manually--because that's the only way to know exactly what I've got...
I'm only surprised that some people aren't complaining that Windows doesn't power on for them via mental telepathy. Takes all kinds, I guess.