That depends on how you view it. If your position is that any big change to the setting requires a similarly big breakthrough then yes.
If your position is that the "gentling" powers of the bath is created by a machine, with a lab text that can be found or reverse engineered then perhaps less so. Maybe it is like how experimenting on integrating a breakthrough allows you to produce some effects with new spell parameters before you have integrated the general guideline. Like e.g. inventing/discovering a specific spell with the target "unborn child" is possible as a step towards inventing fertility magic before you can invent spells with that target generally.