It will be a little sad only looking forward to one talent point every 15 levels instead of one every other level, but keep in mind, there's a lot more things you'll be getting "free" from choosing a spec now, so you'll basically be looking forward to those. Perhaps as a way to spice leveling up a little more, they could let you pick which of the free abilities you want at specific levels instead of having them be predetermined?

Also, I don't think you'll really feel the "talent drought" until after 75. You'll get all but 1 of your talents in the first two areas of the game, all but 2 pre-BC. Once you get your 75 one, you get no talent points for at all for all of Wrath AND Cata. While I would prefer to get my talent points sooner rather than later, it's probably something the Devs will change in the MoP beta.

Regarding flying, you'll still be able to fly in Outland at level 60, Northrend at 68? Or is it 70? They probably still require the tome too, so first characters wont fly in Northrend (I think? Someone correct me on that if I'm wrong), and then flying is absolutely required for a lot of Cata zones, so you'll still fly from 80-85. I also fully expect that they'll put in a "Tome of Panda Flying" so that you'll only need to do the Panda zones grounded once, similar to Wrath.