Looking at it in a narrative way, I do hope there are more tiers of progression than what we see before intimacy. In my first playthrough I had a male and my second a female. The initial options with Astarion were the same options. So my gender did not influence the relationship with him in any way. It was humorous to see UNDER CONSTRUCTION in some parts.
However, I would say it would be nice if there were 1 or 2 more layers to get through before then. It would just add a more natural progression.
