At first, I was disappointed that CA weren't giving us Rome 2 yet, but now I'm looking forwards to Shogun 2 - a new era, style of combat and no faction bias either - since I know sod-all about Medieval Japan (and you get Samurai - how can you go wrong)! I never played Shogun 1 either.
For those pining for Rome 2, you really need to check out Roma Surrectum II over at TW Center - it changes the majority of the original game and they've done an amazing job with the graphics - it looks so much better than the original Rome, maybe not quite as good as Medieval II, but not far off. A while back, I played vanilla Rome and couldn't be arsed after a few battles; the graphics looked so poor compared to Medieval II and Empire.
Now, thanks to Roma Surrectum II, Rome has regained its Total War throne. Give it a try, you won't regret it.
Edit: I am 100% certain that Rome 2 will be next.
Regarding the poll, I'll probably get it when it's come down a bit (and has had the inevitable bugs squished). That's what I did with Empire and I was glad I did, going by what I heard at TW Center about the game on release.
Having said all that, occasionally ignorance can be bliss. I played the original Rome Total War game when it came out exclusively and exhaustively for a long time, with no mods and no patches - only to go onto TW Center and find that the game I'd sunk so many hours into was 'unplayable', among other nonsensical comments. Sometimes, forums can draw your attention to things you never really noticed - and hence they didn't bother you.
