As someone who recently worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic, I think this is a very smart approach to take. I'm no fortune teller, but having seen the development process from the inside, I fear that SW:TOR may be the death-knell for large budget, AAA MMOs. The US economy and the evolution of the player base isn't going to support the development of large-scale, World of Warcraft type games for much longer.
As a side note, rumor has it that the release schedule for SW:TOR was set back by almost 2 years because much of the HeroBlade engine that they licensed had to be rewritten. Middleware can have its drawbacks, of which I'm sure you're well aware.
I'm really looking forward to reading about the creation process of Pathfinder Online, and I hope I have the opportunity to assist in some way in the future.