For any revamp, I’d like for the new design to be made as expac-agnostic as possible, so that it could serve as a new player’s introduction to the game/setting without causing major confusion of the timeline.
Ashenvale:
For my personal ideal revamp, I’d split Ashenvale the zone into “Ashenvale”, comprising of the whole zone west of the Falfarren river and made into an uncontested night elf zone; and “Forest’s Edge” or something, comprising the area east of the Falfarren river, and designed as the dedicated faction-contested zone (it could also be lumped into Azshara or so if necessary).
(If the Horde really needs the extra questing area/xp, I’d have Earthen Ring quests that gave them flight points to two neutral questing areas in Ashenvale proper, but not have full Horde-aligned outposts and leave the roads patrolled by Horde-hostile Sentinels so that it doesn’t appear they can wander around freely outside the Earthen Ring’s areas.)
Both zones would have a canopy layer - a set of paths winding along intertwined branches, mostly just for transportation, but sometimes including its own content (lurking Sentinels hostile to the Horde, harpy nests/villages, owl and/or hippogryph nests, special materials to gather, etc.) As long as we’re going for a “dense spooky forest” theme, I want the forest to factor in more strongly.
Ashenvale proper would focus on local/historically night elven threats, such as naga along the coast, satyrs and other leftover demons, and furbolg tribes as both enemies and allies in the next iteration of the Dartol’s rod questchain.
Orendil Broadleaf would still be collecting medicinal reagents for curing the sick of Astranaar, but this time, the player delivers the reagents to Priestess Relara Whitemoon, who serves as the questgiver of the rest of the chain dedicated to healing other ill citizens in town.
I’d make Zoram’gar outpost an Earthen Ring outpost instead of a Horde base, dedicated to studying Blackfathom Deeps. (I’d either let it keep a neutral flight point, or make a tauren village on northern Stonetalon coast, so Horde wouldn’t lose a flight path location.) This would serve as the PC’s main introduction to the Earthen Ring. I’d also add some draenei shaman and draenei in general to the outpost, showing their expanding presence on the mainland.
I’d include some Gilnean worgen dealing with the feral worgen in the Howling Vale, using Krennan Aranas’ alchemy to give some of them back their minds, and in the process providing lore on the origins of the worgen. (I want the quest to still breadcrumb over to Velinde’s grave in Duskwood, too. I liked those continent-spanning quest chains.)
I’d replace Cata’s volcano in the center of the map with a smoking hill covered in new-growth forest. The quests here are from a mixed Cenarion Circle and Earthen Ring camp nearby, focusing on cleaning up the rare remaining angry elemental and reintroducing the local wildlife back to the area. This would also serve as the PC’s main introduction to the CC.
I’d also include some less combat-heavy quests dealing with the upkeep of shrines to the Ancients across the zone - perhaps culminating in the player witnessing one of the Ancients stop by the shrine, or have the visit be a non-quest random vignette. (As part of this, I’d relocate the Forest Heart to the Shrine of Aessina, to move it out of the now more PVP-focused Forest’s Edge zone/subzone.) Perhaps these quests could copy Cata-Teldrassil’s questchain of collecting moonwell water while telling stories, because I loved the strong cultural themes that chain provided. (And a good way to introduce background lore.)
At the south by the Mor’shan Ramparts, I’d add a giant thorn-filled, vine-y death zone grown by angry druids (and maybe inhabited by Botani) to keep the Horde out. Alliance players would have some quests there to reinforce the wall, fight some Warsong raiders and/or goblin flamethrowers trying to clear a path through it, and perhaps fight some Botani to keep the zone from spreading too far north. In doing so, the player could learn a little about the faction conflict history, and some about the War of Thorns if the game isn’t trying to sweep that monstrosity under the rug instead of handle it. (This area would also tie in to my idea for the Northern Barrens, where the Horde is building a railroad connection up north but face resistance from Sentinels and Botani in the pass.)
Meanwhile, the “Forest’s Edge” zone/subzone would focus on the Alliance/Horde (or, more specifically, the Silverwing/Warsong) back-and-forth struggle, primarily between Forest Song and the Warsong Lumber Camp. In a revamp aimed at including max-level world quests, this area would have a lot of Warmode-specific quests.
(It’s still a bit too close to Orgrimmar in my opinion, but the “Forest’s Edge” idea should give a bit of a land buffer between Orgrimmar and the forested edge of Ashenvale. Ideally, I’d like a revamp to stretch the map and put a sliver of the Barrens between Orgrimmar and the Forest’s Edge subzone, too, but I’m not sure how well that’d turn out.)
…This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would.