as afew have said above, in the general sense or in a general conversation, to me, yes it is content. if you look at the game from 0-100% of where any player is now and where they started I would say that above 75% of what they have interacted (gearing, planning, theory crafting, and other none game play things) with in that time is characters.
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I also think that while this is a fair question, relating the long timeline they have said they have to the answers in the QA that were answered with "not at this time" doesn't really correlate. I wouldn't think that not at this time, is in reference to the 3-5 year plan they have mentioned, but more just on the immediate plan and what is actually in the works.
they have discussed the long term plan is very "fuzzy" and as things get discussed and approach things they clear up and add more details. example would be- if they had May 4th noted on the calendar last year, they may not have had ESB as a direct thing being focused on.