Who is gonna raid now with the iLvl 110 gear handed to people??

[Felessan]

From what I remember (a.k.a I could be wrong), he didn't say anything about the second weave of people clearing it and he just mentioned that they wouldn't increase the difficulty for now as to not let people behind.

Seems different interview. I saw one when YoshiP said that they were surpised how fast SCoB got downed and they expected it to last longer. But than they look how broader population progress and it was within their expectation range.
There are actually a lot of ppl that are actively raiding but still not downed T9, in our FC only 1 static did it (and quite some time ago) and at least 3 other still trying it on various phases.

And let's be honest, the reason most people clear the encounters they have difficulty with is mostly due to the Echo giving such stupidly high bonuses.

Echo is the same as gear upgrade - just plain improvements of your stats. 10 levels of ilvl upgrade is about the same as 15% echo buff. Echo buff was just given to further decrease difficulty of certain encounters without having impact on the new content.
Tell the truth T6, T8-T9 are scales nicely with gear, becoming easier and easier, especially if you go through certain thresholds. Same was with Coil1 where overgear (and later echo) allowed to use simpler mechanics. Twintania with ilvl110 and 20%echo is really a joke, there are just no places where hp/healing/dps could lack even if the players are "not best" of the crowd. Just know what to do on divebombs and twisters - and you are safe.