1 - Yes, it's PTW.

2 - WoW isn't the only game that did the mixed cash shop/subscription model. EQ2 did it for a while before going F2P. Sadly they made it so there was NO good appearance gear that didn't come from the cash shop (including top end raid loot looking like garbage) from that point out, and people didn't approve. (surprise!)

3 - If all you care about is quantity of content to screw around in, get together 53 of your closest friends and go run Everquest 1 raid content from vanilla onward without using any quested or universally dropped gear added later. That'll keep you busy for a decade.