I don't know, I think major characters will die. Clay will die. Opie will probably die too. It feels like that's where they're going with him. You had to assume they would put Jax at the head of the table, that was obvious, and if that's the case he can't leave.
But it was a cop out, yes. Since they know they can run the show for at least another season now, they probably have a bigger picture plan that made some of the unsatisfying threads necessary. But it should have ended this season. As much as I enjoy it and am glad it will be back, this was the culmination of the story. Everything should have exploded, and they fucked it up by dragging it out.
A show that had no bones about killing off major characters was Oz. Three years into the series you'd be watching it and one of the major players would get shanked and bleed to death on the floor and you'd be like, "What the fuck was that?!" It was great. No one was safe.