I think I can see your point. I love the cinematics and everything but they do feel very removed from what we play out in game.
Additionally, I would think they really lock writers into plot points because of how long they take to make. For example, if literally everybody hated Saurfang and everything he stands for, what could they do about it? Nothing, they’ve already got the cinematics made. They can’t really make edits to make things more bearable, that’s way too expensive and time consuming! They can’t just pull a Sonic the Hedgehog in response to the community, they’ve had all this locked in for a long time.
I’m not trying to come off ungrateful for these great pieces of work, really WoW cinematics are phenomenal. But yeah I think you’re right that they need to be woven into gameplay better.