That’s really not correct, given that the pathfinder and flight decisions they have made have resulted in a great many players deciding to skip the first part of the expansion and only come back after they’ve announced when they’ll grant flight privileges.
People took off half of wod and all of Legion. I hear that story over and over again from different players, many of whom have decided to quit the game forever. Even if they do come back next year when flight becomes enabled, overall they will have cost the company a bundle of money.
But most I knew say they’re not coming back again.
I haven’t bought BfA. From what I read in the beta, it sounded kind of boring, and since then I have heard nothing that would change my mind. They’d have to reduce the price a lot to get me to buy it right now. I expect that by the time flight is released, the price of the game will be discounted steeply.