So I’ve already knocked this and posted my thoughts but Turbine has posted a dev diary on this topic. Essentially it sounds like they just had too much on their plates to get everything done, and something had to slip. I still don’t like it and am generally disappointed by this but hopefully there’s more stuff coming with Volume 3. Not to mention, I still think most of these are crap if not skills we should be getting for free – I’m looking at you warden/hunter port.
Anyway, I do appreciate them trying to explain their position and the thought process behind it – take a read over here.