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Right from the beginning, Robert Jordan was predicting eight (I think) books in the series, so no one expected a conclusion in or around book four. I think it's pretty unrealistic to say the books were meandering or off-track that early on. The story only really hit full steam around book four, in my opinion.
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Actually, originally he stated that it'd be 5 books in the series. Then it became 8. And then 10. And well, you get the picture.
I think he reached his peak around book 4 ("The Shadow Rising"). Up until then, the constant expansion of his universe and the increasing number of plot lines were actually welcome additions. Then came "Fires of Heaven", which still is a pretty good book, but in retrospect you can see how he's starting to meander and lose focus. After that, it just got worse and worse with a few glimpses of light in between.
[censored] it. I wasted too much time on these books, and now I'll never know who killed Asmodean! Anyone here used to hang around in rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan? Here's some gems from the newsgroup that fellow Jordan fans might appreciate:
Titles for book 10-25
Tarman Gaidon Bowl
A New General For Rand
Wrapping Things Up