Yes SoE has painted themselves into a corner.
My expectations for the next expansion
Level 90 Cap, all previous expansions included
50 added to the AA Cap, no new lines. 15/15/20
Mythical Epics the best weapons until mid to late tier raiding , Fabled Epics really tough to beat for casual players.
Moderate difficulty "solo" questlines to get to 90 ... ,expect most to duo or trio these. at least 3 will have fabled rewards.
82 Mastercrafted at about the values of t2 shard armor, also sets of 87 Mastercrafted at t3 shard armor values
Casual players capping any 1 of mellee crit, ranged crit, spell crit, double attack or ranged double attack, the mark of a decent casual raider will be to have all that apply to you capped.
Tanks breaking 20k hps Self Buffed.
T1 DPS breaking 30kdps buffed
Gear Effects that duplicate bardsongs/chanter buffs, and do not stack with them.
Bards/Chanters getting new OMG buffs, but they are all raidwide. This is to replace buffs that are no longer as usefull as everyone on the raid is capped. 1 each of Dirge / Troub/Coercer/Illusionist is seen as optimal
The Rise of the Summoners as the Uber again class of the expansion.
Rangers make Assassins cry, more then usual that is.