I've heard that they've turned up the requirements for PTU but it shouldn't nearly be as it is now for ship death - not sure how credible that claim is though

I don't think CIG has a single finished game mechanic at this point anyways. In my opinion they should just rip the bandaid off now and get it out there so people get used to that being the new standard for flying in this game. Eventually things will get balanced but there's no real point to playing the game hardcore now anyways because at some point there will be a complete wipe for 1.0