If SE wanted the muffin grind to be easier or shorter, it would be.
Breaking up successful groups via a bonanza reward that looks like a handout would be some amusing old-school villainy, though.
Not to mention the jealousy and feelings that would instantly ooze out of people.
You're definitely correct that SE does not want that grind any shorter. They need the extra layer of dedication in case ilvl besieged gets completely out of hand or when doing testing on the live server for limbus goes wrong. We all know they are will deliver a half baked update with gigantic crippling bugs for the new content they just pushed out on one of those.