The problem I see with this debate is that all the content we had so far should be have present from the start.

It'd be useless to have hardcore content when battle algorythms are changing, classes are unbalanced, materia will be unbalanced at start and jobs aren't out yet.

Just think of your char and your progression as a bonus. You get the advantage of being one step ahead and having access to everything, but you lost progression, difficulty and achievement feelings since all these "landmarks" weren't there on your road to 50.