MSQ can be a requirement for a trial > gear. And obviously all other crafting requirements.

Also to the point of your post. The only decent argument has been that it delays the release of tomestones. But that argument runs thin. If you rephrase everything to "can we release normal content one week early" that argument falls appart since we're no longer delaying anything. In essence both scenarios are exactly the same, because it's not a delay if it's planned.
The fact that the first savage tier is staggered and works fine is a good indicator that this could also be done with later tiers.