And pardon if my noobness to this game, and something is different then every other competitive game I have played.
But when you are playing a ladder game like this, or tiered game, the top tier will always be the most painful to be in because it will have the widest range of players in it. Players will struggle to get to the top tier, then once they are there they will notice different tier's within the tier. Splitting it won't be any different really, you will have people that try to get to what they consider the "top" then run into the same problem.
Really if you are a competitive person you should be wanting to play against the best, and if your not who really gives a damn about touney's.