No mmorpg to date has not charged for expansion packs. Unless blizzard has said other wise, its pretty unlikely they will develop huge amounts of new content for WoW, and make no money off the software.
EQ looks pretty good to me, and lots of other people. And apparently no system, no matter how much money you spend on todays top of the line equipment, will run EQ at its highest settings. I like WoW's style but its not something that pushes itself over EQ2's visuals. But for me its not about visuals, its about the different style of gameplay they both have. They really arent all that different, but EQ2 is my preference. Its set in the world I know, has all the nostalga I will enjoy from the first game. Its deep and immersive.
And anyways, I am not so sure I will get EQ2 over WoW, because a couple of my friends wont be able to buld a system capable of playing it. But they can build a system to play WoW. I have seen all the vids on gamespot on WoW, and it looks amazing, and in the end if its better then EQ2, I wont hesitate to sign up for it. EQ2 has no PVP at launch, which IMO is ludicrous! heh.