even though they said they wanted to have a new expansion on a yearly basis versus every 2 years
The great thing about Blizzard over the years has always been that when they release something, they do it RIGHT! They dont adhere to timelines, and have said countless amounts of times, "When its done". And it has really worked out for the best overall, because they just DONT release crappy products (now I'm not counting bugs associated with patches, etc). And I remember them saying they wanted expansions on a yearly basis, but they know better. Even though we always have to wait a long time for their products, its normally always worth it (I never played WarCraft 3 though, which I heard iffy stuff about).

Now that they are in bed with Activi$ion though, I fear those days of long development times and high quality releases may be coming to a close. I hope the guys at Blizzard stick to their guns and dont let the whispers of 'Big Brother' affect their own development, but I think we're already seeing it.

Think back, even just a year or two ago, and if you had asked a WoW developer about the concept of paid Faction/Racial change services, they'd probably laugh in your face! However now we can see it on the horizon. Is it really a BAD thing? Not necessarily. I'm sure plenty of people will take advantage of it. Its just one of those things that chips away at the integrity of the game for money (And yes, I see the irony of this statement coming from a multiboxer).

So for now, I'd expect Blizzard to stick to the gameplan as always, but as time goes on, it'll probably be like an EQ-type thing where we see a constant flow of generic, average expansions on a yearly basis.