I believe that it was mentioned that the Hard and Nightmare modes would include more difficult mechanics to make the gameplay different. I was wondering If there is a possibility of Nightmare Mode to include an additional End Game boss for rewarding those who clear the Operation? This would obviously be for those Hardcore Raiders, and it would also include an additional Lore Effect.
Also i agree with the the idea of having to clear old content before raiding through new content. If people have to clear Raids in 1.1 before they can do 1.2 and beyond, it Goes smoothly with the Story line, which is what SWTOR is trying to accomplish, a Story Driven game.