Ive only ever played WoW/Diablo. They release the expansion, and throughout the expansion they add content. After that there's a new expansion. The game is released in its entirety and priced accordingly. Annual pass seems like the game is partially released, you pay for it, then pay for it again to access features that should have been released in the base game. Kind of like microtransactions except youre buying additional content. It seems pretty slimey.