Honestly just reading a thread where another new player had a similar experience to me made me think of this.
Going from exiles reach to stormwind is jarring. I found it bad enough when I went from Gilneas there.
Now after seeing Boralus myself… the difference between Stormwind and Boralus is STAGGERING. For a capital city this is nothing short of embarassing.
A giant super important capital port of a nation?
Boralus looks it.
Stormwind looks like what you’d expect in a meme.
Stormwind could use a rework, yes. If anything, Boralus and Kul Tiras as a whole gave us a glimpse of how much more depth the human areas in WoW could have. The city and many of the zones had a rustic, “lived in” feel with a lot of detail.
Kul Tiras felt grounded and comfortable in a way that most places in WoW don’t. It’s too bad that it was the Alliance hub in a mediocre-to-awful expansion.
I don’t know that it will ever happen, but Stormwind could be so much more than a generic fantasy theme park. Even Jaina’s Daughter of the Sea persona, which I like a lot, fits well in Kul Tiras, but feels a little out of place in Stormwind.
I am completely alright with Stormwind sticking to the classic European fantasy setting, it has always been like this, but it could definitely use a rework, I mean, have you seen Stormwind in the Warcraft movie concept arts? It’s beautiful.
Ogrimmar got heavily changed during Cata while Stormwind remained largely the same, making the Alliance Capital feel a little outdated.
i would delete all my alliance alts if boralus stayed relevant after bfa
Boralus really blew me away this expansion. I love it a lot. It feels like a real city. Stormwind, OTOTH, feels like I’m in a cartoon. Or amusement park. It just feels…fake. It’s the only city in the game I get that feeling from, too. Which makes it all the worse that it’s meant to be the #1 Alliance city.
It’s not that it shouldn’t be a classic Medieval European fantasy. That’s fine, but it could be that in a less generic way, more gritty and more detailed, rather than a bunch of recycled tropes.
Stormwind should also feel like a much rougher place than it is. These are the humans that have been through everything, survived everything, gone up against everything.
It’s always felt simultaneously too friendly and too pompous. As a character, I thought that Varian captured what Stormwind should be occasionally, but the city never has.
Long and short of it is Stormwind should be updated but I doubt any update is going to happen soon. We do have other races(ahem night elves) who do need a new home.
The port area did get a pretty substantial rework at some point. That and the expanded garden behind the keep are probably the best parts of the city at the moment.
The cramped central area is the main problem. They should at least try to do something about that part of it.
I also really wish they would pick a new musical theme. Maybe I am just tired of it because I have heard it too often over the years, but it’s time for a change, imho. The older theme could still be brought back occasionally in certain situations.
Absolutely not
I hate Boralus 
the vibe, the smell, the music, the color scheme, it’s all gross
No thank you
Boralus harbor has the best music in the game.