I also know CT releasing late messed it up. So why not simply rectify that... one cycle alteration, even a minor one, could solve it.

Or simply release the Brutal Mode simultaneous to the original release.

The bosses/environs/gear have all been designed. I can't imagine it would require much more effort at all to amp the difficulty some.

Especially if they set an ilvl sync, making it much more simple a task to fine-tune the difficulty to their liking.