Huge opportunity missed,yes.
I really disagree with this. They missed out on the pre-merge rush, sure, but I think this game is going to have some serious legs on it. Look at SWTOR. At last count, other then their initial purchase rush, they have a larger, steadier, playerbase then they have ever had. That game has some serious legs on it. Many of us discounted what going F2P would do for that game (badly, in my case).
While Wildstar hasn't gone F2P yet, I still think that you're going to see the numbers slowly begin to rise as it cultivates it's own specific set of users, versus people that are just looking for "something that's not WoW". It will be quite profitable. Moreso if it ever does go F2P.