For me it seems like SE are gearing up for making this game pay to play. If they, say, released Grand Companies in one patch with some content, then next month releasing some more content for the companies while sneaking in some battle system changes, then next month release some dungeons/raids, then next month (you get the picture), it would be hard for them to say at which point the game is pay to play. Now instead they decide to release all that they have worked on since january in one big swoop, making us players say "Wow, all this content at once?!" justifying them making the game pay to play.

Now I don't know the dev teams plans or how they work, but I wouldn't be surprised if things went this way (I would love it actually)