Blizzard should have made covenants about cosmetics and story ONLY. Tying player power to them was an absolutely terrible decision.
Railroading the story for alts is also a bad idea. I like the freedom leveling provided in past expansions. Everything feels limited and locked in SL.
I agree that the story is bland, but I don’t know how to fix that. I don’t really care about what’s going on in the SL, that’s all I know. Some characters are cool, but that’s about it.
Edit: My brain is slow this morning.