Not to say things won't change more as time goes on, but even as they open things up and make them more accessible, endgame stuff is generally going to stay endgame.
They are always trying to push development, and even to some extent push guilds to not carry newer players or have big fish swimming in the small pond (generally speaking).
They want competitive guilds to feel like they are getting an advantage for their "work", and while younger guilds can be competitive, they still have some growing to do to get to end game stuff.
It really seems like r8, and I'm guessing r9 at this point are really geared towards progressing late mid game players. With Conquest and CRancor, average GP around the 5M mark should be getting there in both cases. At this point I don't see them opening it up much below that mark.
They path they are pushing is development. This is a long game, with many milestones along the way. This one seems to have been curated into place, but not something you have to pay to get to.
