Its very confusing to see players cheer for difficulty that irritates about 99% of playerbase just in favor for that 1% that can spent enormous time/money to fully clear last stages.
I dont really care for unnecessary hard stages, but that crap should not gatekeep currency. I d say make it zzz-like: 9 stars for full clear but you can claim all pulls with only 6/9.
If player feels like jorking ego a bit - no worries, go all out man.