That’s what they said…so now we have catch-up mechanics part and parcel of the base game 
To put it in retail terms, every pre-expansion period offers major catch-up for players. The devs now include catch-up mechanics between point releases. This 1.12 version is that catch-up mechanic period before TBC was released.
By the 2nd phase, when honor is introduced, we’ll effectively be playing Classic with Benthic gear.