I'm paying $40 for a free expansion?

Good afternoon, I see the SoR update has already many threads full of strong reactions. I'm sorry to add fuel to the fire but I think I'm going to add in my own complaint here.

First a little background:
I started playing WoW since the first week or release. I continued to play until a few months into BC. I then took a 3-4 year break and came back around January.

Now, I don't have the newest expansion, I still only have WOTLK. I spent my time in WoW raising some lvl.70 characters to 80 and leveling new alts to see the new quests in the old zones.

I could have just not subscribed. But I decided to give WoW a chance again, and I admit it wasn't as bad as some complainers made it out to be. I decided I'm going to buy cataclysm, and was planning to buy it yesterday night. I may have gotten a little lucky, for the SoR changes were leaked before I could buy it.

Now I know that everyone who quit is getting cata+all previous expansions for free. AND a free server/faction change which I could have used for a alt or two. AND a free level 80, and epic flyer (I don't have enough gold to afford it for my multiple alts). Now, knowing that, I feel a little ripped off knowing I still have to pay the full 39.99 to get to 85.

Honestly, this entire system seems backwards. Yes, Blizzard wants more subscribers and this will help. But to give people who didn't quit nothing while someone who quits 1 month in gets all this benefits seems a bit disrespectful to paying customers. Keep in mind the people who return can still sign up for the annual pass so it's not like only old customers can get Diablo 3 for essentially free.

I'm hoping something will be done. Maybe extend the free expansion to paying customers, or just lower the cost of expansions to be fair. The cost of expansions are already scaring off some of my friends from even trying warcraft, so I can't guarantee a reduction in price will lead to a loss of profit.


Just my 2 cents, I'm just hoping it's understandable that I'm very hesitant about paying for a expansion pack most people are now getting for free (From today on, since everyone else playing bought theirs already it seems). Even though SoR won't apply to me for I didn't quit before March 4th, I feel like perhaps I should have, and that coming back was the wrong choice. Ah well, I may see you guys in MoP.