i don't see why add a bonus reward for having finish a content before the next one... the reward is to be able to begin before the other. it's more a trouble of ego than anything.

about the one talking of the casual stance for the game i will answer this, who do you think is the more important as player base in number? the casual, you can not like this, but that a fact, you have more player called "casual" than hardcore. then focus on a small playerbase for a company that try to get money for a game is indeed not the smartest move.

that said, i'm against any sort of reward for the... old player over the new player in general, creating a schisme between old and new player have always make a mess... look at all the trouble between legacy and new player we had while the beta and still have now.

finally, they seems able to give us enough content for use the vertical progression instead to give us horizontal one it's a good thing! if a player begin to play when the 2.2 will be out, he will have already a pretty decent quantity of content to do.