When eight-speeds came out I thought it was great, and then nine was even better. Now I've got 11 on a few bikes, but I can't say that my performance or enjoyment has really changed that much. I agree with @
Iride01 that the range is more important than the number of cogs. I'd have no qualms about riding an 11-32 eight-speed again, although there are some fairly large jumps between some of the gears (four teeth in some cases).
Bottom line: cassettes can be swapped out -- buy the bike that best fits your dimensions and your purpose. You can fine tune other aspects down the road.