Truth is that TOW will do just about as well as WFB. Most people are not looking for a thought intensive rank and flank game these days. People want mindless fun.
The current video game market is a great example. Just look at all the brain dead FPS games out there. CoD, MoH, Halo, Doom and even more especially Borderlands.
The miriad of nonsense that comes out compleatly crushes RTS, RP-RTS, RPGs. It blows GS games like CK2 out of the water.
The fact of the matter is that people play games for an ecsape. WFB was not that for most people. Not to mention all the barriers to entry. Price, the number of models needed for big games, an ageing old guard were were (at least in my area) total asshats, etc, etc. The more complex rules of 8th ed didin't help either. 6th ed (though i never played it) is widley regarded as GW's fantasy magnun opis. But since that is in the past, GW will once again try to one up itself and bash together a number of rediclious rules that will kill the OW too.
Yeah I don't got any hopes for this.
But more on the thread's topic.
I make it no secret that I despise End Times lore for it's truly horrendous writing and total disregard for established lore. AoS lore is only decent because it's a cheap D&D knock off with warhammery things tacked on. Both have treated humanity pretty dirty.
I really don't see that changing anytime soon. I mean all we have to do is lokk at AoS. For all of the postureing and writing about the Free Cities, we still have not seen any new infantry or cavalry minis. And while the current 6th/7th/8th ed Empire line is perfectly satisfactory and somthing that I expected not to change for a long time I DID expect a new batch or even line of heroes.
However we have not seen any particular advancement in the character range. Sans the heroes from Cursed City (I'm still salty I was not able to get a copy) and the father-daughter witch hunter duo, we have had nothing. No new FG generals or captains. No new priests of Sigmar, which is somthing I DEFINITELY expected. We don't have a priest of Grungni, who is worshiped by all craftsmen regardless of race. That would be cool.
We still have not seen any replacements of the defunct Bretonnian line either, and while Brets will be returning in TOW I would LOVE to see their descendants in AoS. A Gilles le Breton (the Uniter) mini would be amazing, might even get me interested in playing AoS.
Again I don't got my hopes up though. For most people games are about ecsapism, mindless fun, as I said before. Hard to do that with humans, even in a fantasy setting.