I can understand how some would feel that way. However, with myself I'm the opposite! With WAR i'm ranking up alts to 25 so I can play through all the new content at different levels. When Burning Crusade was coming out or WOW I was doing the same. I feel more of a need to log in and play before an expansion but I'm not running old now useless content, I'm levelling alts.

I do think gear based progression is to blame. There can be ways to buffer a pre-expansion lull though. With WAR you will still need wards to fight the new lair and dungeon bosses so, until the sigil system comes out, running city dungeons and Lost Vale is still needed if you do not already have the wards.