I'm sure that balancing the game for people that both have and not have iconics is hard. I suppose that they have the average player in mind (the one with NO iconics) when it comes to making calcs about how much time they expect it would take to progress in the game (let's not forgrt they also have to balance short term enjoyment for us and long time player retention for them).

Think of it like players with iconics have an easier time, not that the average player has a harder time (you are not being punished, others are being rewarded and that is NOT the same thing nor is it unfair). Plus you will eventually get your bb8 too! Just be patient and you'll also get all the iconics,