So, we've talked about half of the home cities for the two player factions. While Shattrath and Dalaran are both important locations, I think that, given their relative isolation, it makes sense for them to remain unchanged. Don't get me wrong, Dalaran is probably the best-designed city in all of WoW, with everything relatively organized and a gorgeous design in a remarkably small space. And Shattrath is all right, I guess. But unless we see an Outland or Northrend revamp like Cataclysm did to the old world (and that would really just set us up for an ever-repeating treadmill of revamps - which granted, one could argue for) I think that both of these neutral cities will not likely change much.
So, to continue:
Silvermoon City:
While we're probably not going to see much change in the BC territories, the truth is that Blood Elf society has been going through drastic changes. We've actually seen a bit of change in Silvermoon already - when BC came out, the Blood Elf capital actually reflected total ignorance of Kael'thas' deal with the Legion. Hell, as a BE you headed into Outland basically on Illidan's side (the story for BC was a bit of a mess - Wrath was where they started getting better about making things clear in-game.) While Silvermoon is clearly a pleasant city (the part that wasn't destroyed by the Scourge,) there's some creepy totalitarian vibes going on as well. Though the propaganda-spewing Arcane Guardians are no longer preaching about Kael'thas and the promised land, they're still there, just with a new, Lor'themar-friendly message. There's clearly a bit of a rift between the Magisters and the Farstriders - the latter seem happy to team up with the High Elf exiles while the former are more interested in remaining loyal to the Horde. The Blood Elves have always had a bit of an identity crisis, and Garrosh's leadership has really tipped things in favor of reconciliation with, if not the Alliance, then those countrymen still loyal to the Alliance.
Ironforge:
The Dwarves are another group of people with serious fractures forming. Actually, arguably they are not so much fractured as they are being inundated with new people who are officially welcome in their city, but not really gelling. The Wildhammers have always been a bit easier to get along with among the Bronzebeards than the Dark Irons, but I'd like to see a bit more of their influence on the society. Clearly, it is the Dark Irons who are going to cause the most trouble, especially given Moira's involvement with them and her son who actually has a pretty legit claim to the throne. There is a Dark Iron embassy in Ironforge, though it only really comes up in one quest. I'd like to see some serious clashes between the clans - perhaps even creating a neighborhood for each clan. We need to know more about Moira's actual intentions, and that needs to be reflected in changes to good old IF (which was totally the real Alliance capital back in the day, and I say this as a guy whose main is a human.) Oh, and also, what's the deal with Tinkertown? I know Mekkatorque is down by Gnomeregan, continuing the fight against the Troggs and the Leper Gnomes, but surely the gnomes would have something to say about all this dwarven intrigue.
Orgrimmar:
Ok, here we come to the big ones. Orgrimmar saw the biggest changes of any city in Cataclysm - the Goblins took over the old Troll area, the Tauren now hang out in the ruins of Thrall's old keep, and Garrosh has set himself up where the old, glorious flight tower used to be (for you newbies, that's the thing you see collapsing in the Cataclysm cinematic along with the zeppelin crashing into the canyon wall - that zeppelin used to hover stationary over the city.) Garrosh has so totally remade Orgrimmar that I actually think it's the city that needs the least alteration. And yet, with Garrosh being removed, we're clearly going to need a bit of change. I don't know how that will work, exactly, as so much of the Horde leveling experience involves Garrosh. Will we phase him out for those who have completed the Siege of Orgrimmar, replaced by Thrall (or Saurfang, or Vol'jin, or a Basic Campfire?) I actually hope they keep the Drag the way it is, to preserve a bit of the Old Orgrimmar, but at the same time it would be nice to see the renovations on the front gates and some of the other parts of the city completed.
Stormwind:
Stormwind was not rebuilt as much as Orgrimmar, but there were some huge changes. For one, the old "Night Elf district," the Park, was totally obliterated and is now literally a giant smoking crater, where the land has fallen into the sea. We do have some cool little farmland to the north - a kind of safe, protected area to get away from all the urban stuff. However, with the Cataclysm over, it seems like Stormwind should have finished rebuilding. If we have to keep Deathwing's claw-marks, so be it, but I would love to see something rebuilt in the area once known as the Park. It strikes me that, while Blizzard shuffled most of the Worgen over to Darnassus (giving them the Howling Oak, which, while cool, was just tossing a model used elsewhere in the world in an unused corner,) it would make far more sense for them to want to cling to their human allies. Additionally, the whole Gilnean architectural style is fantastic. Give the Worgen and the Night Elves a kind of shared district within this area: the Druids of both races grow a tree, stretching out from cliff wall, providing a little natural balcony where the Night Elves could just chill out and enjoy it being a tree and the Worgen could set up their little caravans. Actually, to match the way that Orgrimmar has areas for four of the six Horde races, you could also make a little Draenei area in Cathedral Square (which was expanded quite a bit in Cataclysm.) For some reason, Blizzard has a very hard time incorporating the non-vanilla Alliance races into the world (which is a shame, because they're probably my two favorite playable races.) Giving them some face time in the capital would at least remind us that they're still there.
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