Carcassonne is a great game, but I'd stay away from the later expansions. The first few are great (Inns & Cathedrals, Traders & Builders), but the later ones not so much. It's very strategic, and you can reduce the randomness even more by always having three tiles in your hand and selecting one to play each turn (rather then drawing and playing one tile each turn).
Good info. I picked up the Basic Game, a promotional set of 12 extra tiles, Inns and Catherdrals, and Traders and Builders as the mainly used sets.
I bought the German set King & Scout, Count, River II and Cult in a bundle as it was incredibly cheaper than just getting the River II set in English. I don't think I'll use King, Scout and Count, but I may use the Cult tiles. I also have Abbey and Mayor, as I got it new cheaply, but I need to see if I'm going to integrate those or not. My guess is we'll integrate the wagon, but I'm not so sure about the Barn or the Mayor.
Most the other stuff didn't look like it would be helpful (i.e. too much going on to make the game fun) and was pretty much fluff, probably the manufacturer trying to get more life out of the game.
Good idea on multiple card drawing, although I don't find that the randomness is a huge issue. If you know what you're doing and have used your meeples well it's unusual you draw a tile that is completely useless. I was planning on having players draw their
first card of the game, place it, then draw their 2nd card right away to place on their next turn, thereby giving them time to consider it's placement while everyone else is taking their turn. New placements may change what they are thinking, but I figure it can speed the game up a little.