There's plenty of new. Flying mounts, Group crafting - Crafting and gathering in general has changed, (though it could be improved upon.) We got 3 new jobs and 1 new race.

And all of this isn't including the new zones, gear fights, dungeons -etc that is just being labeled as "more of the same."

Since when the hell is new content criticized as more of the same. That never stopped cult classic series like Zelda, Megaman, Castlevania and the like. Hell people are still clamoring for another classic Metroid title even though it would be 'more of the same'.

If we're following the same update pattern as before, we're looking at 3.2 or 3.3 before a new 'system' comes out if there is one. Remember any systems they 'add' would have to be updated at the same break-neck pace that we're getting content updates for everything else. And from what I keep hearing from WoW refugees, we're getting updates far, far quicker than most other places.

As far as 'flawed gear progression' we continue to see fine tuning in that regard - and I'm not opposed to the general pacing of progression. There's just a standing request for top-tier gear to be in more places than just the 8 man static raid.