Its a valid concern to be sure.

In the case of WoW, the release date would have to be a mid to late 2012 release to see an expansion to counter TOR. Although if it turns out that the rumored Christmas release is the real date, then you could see Blizzard timing out a major raid content patch for the same time period. Although I do not think at this point Blizzard is in the position to try and prevent players from leaving the game. More so they would wish to have the new content out there towards the end of the first month of ToRs release in order to draw those players who tried it out back to WoW.

In the case of Rift, there is a much stronger case for Trion to stop their playerbase from leaving their game for ANY amount of time. They need their players to stay put. They can not afford any significant portion of their base to take a "vacation" to check out TOR. They are the ones that EA needs to really worry about dropping an expansion or some other type of major content event on their release date.

As it stands though, TOR's principal competitor is actually in their head. They need to prove that their game is worth the subscription cost and the time involved to play their game. They need to stop worrying about what others are doing and focus on making their game something to be excited about. Right now, most people are merely curious onlookers at what they expect is an inevitable train wreck.

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