Coming back to the Land of the Wolf

After Exodar and Silvermoon mostly felt like graveyards, Blizzard made the two new starting zones for the Cataclysm races (and notice that these went to only about level 12, instead of 20 - Kezan was just the "kiddie pool" area, the way the Valley of Trials or Northshire Abbey work, as opposed to the two fully-fledged zones for both BC races) basically one-shot and you're done. The Goblins watch Kezan collapse and then see the Lost Isles mostly destroyed by a volcanic eruption. The Worgen are forced to merely fend the Forsaken off long enough for their people to escape, and even though the Horde also gets to do a few things there, Gilneas is pretty much a ghost-town.

Likewise, even though there's nothing wrong with the Wandering Isle, one gets the impression that one is not going back there.

In fact, of these zones, it's only Gilneas that you can actually return to at all, even though there's nothing in the way on NPCs except for a few hounds out in the highlands to the north so hunters can get them as pets.

But Gilneas is also the zone among these with the most potential for future stories. It's one of the fiercest fronts between the Alliance and the Horde, and while Alliance players might be forgiven for thinking that this was a total loss, given how the Gilneas quests end, in fact that peninsular country has proven to be a real thorn in the side of the Forsaken War Machine, and remains the one area in the Eastern Kingdoms where they have yet to have had a decisive victory.

As I've said before, the Alliance needs a fist-pumping victory, and while the Siege of Orgrimmar is likely to feel pretty victorious, certain elements will negate a bit of the feeling that the Alliance can be really proud of what they've done - ultimately this is probably going to feel like more of a victory for Vol'jin, and presumably the Alliance will just be handing Orgrimmar back to the Horde when all is said and done (unless Blizzard wants to throw us a huge curveball and make Orgrimmar a neutral city in the next expansion.)

What I would propose is that we get, either in a 5.5 patch or next expansion, two outdoor-content areas that are actually totally separate between Horde and Alliance. The Horde would be dealing with the aftermath of the Siege, putting the pieces of the Horde back together while hunting down any remaining Kor'kron or dealing with whatever Sha-stuff Garrosh unleashed.

Meanwhile, while the Horde is pulling itself back together, the Alliance, emboldened by their victory in Durotar, and knowing that Sylvanas won't be able to get any significant back-up, lands a massive force in Gilneas to re-take the country.

At the end of all of this, we have the new leadership of the Horde finally assembled (whether Vol'jin becomes Warchief, or they have some kind of ruling council, or something,) and the Alliance takes back Gilneas, populating Gilneas City and restoring Genn Graymane to his throne.

Both sides actually come out the better for this: the Horde survives the fall of Garrosh, and the Alliance finally gets to step up their game and win for a change.