I was talking to someone this morning who had also recently finished the book, and he was saying similar things in part, that he expected certain things to be resolved before the Last Battle, whatever those particular things might be isn't really important. The thing of it is, a lot of people expected certain things to be wrapped up if the Last Battle was to proceed. But hey, take a look around. The trollocs are rolling out of the Blight, destroying the Borderlands, and they're appearing all over the Westlands; and not in raids, they're coming in armies. Heck, they attack Camelyn! The Last Battle has already begun, even if everybody doesn't really know about it.

I think it's great that these things that people assumed had to happen before the Last Battle are now going to have to happen during it. Moiraine meeting up with Rand? Rand reuniting with Mat and Perrin? Well, it's all going to be on the battlefield, or at least in some sort of chaotic setting, which wasn't really anticipated much.