Remember that this is SE we're talking about here.. the same SE that gave us the Gambit System in Final Fantasy 12. The XIV devs have hinted that, if they do have a follower system, that it will use something similar to the Gambits from XII.
I haven't touched WoW since the middle of Pandaland, but I hear Garrisons are absolutely horrible :\ Hopefully they'll stick to the XII system..