imho, this is the real issue. Whether someone goes out like a lion or with a whimper - everything about how they are written - is up to Blizz. Right now they are writing great stuff for Alliance leaders, while the Horde as gone through Garrosh, Vol'jin, and Sylvanas. Each has been problematic in their own ways; two are evil and one never got to do anything heroic in game. That is the real imbalance.
Indeed. Vol'jin stepped up as Warchief and it was suddenly "Welcome to this other Draenor!", and then he died. I guess that's what fuels a lot of hope for a faked death situation, but we'll see. Garrosh was a great choice for warchief, but then they had to play the Old God Corruption plot with him and then he just went crazy. Sylvanas had good focus in Cataclysm, then kind of got put on the back burner until Legion, but then her stuff just goes quite at Stormheim. In essence, we technically had a one up on the Alliance and now they're getting an even focus with this Anduin, who's story has been growing since MoP. Thing is, Sylvanas was major zone questing and Anduin is just extra. Again, if this AP item(s) was dropping like 10 million (basically the item or equivalent of the Challenge Mission Class Hall mission) then I'd be more upset. If at near AK 30 the item(s) is combined 5 million, I could not care less.
I play both Alliance and Horde, but my impression was that the Alliance had already gotten the best end of Legion launch even without the extra cinematic. Varian got the most epic death scene in the history of WoW; Vol'jin was...ok. I mean, Vol'jin didn't do anything wrong, but he certainly didn't go out in the same epic fashion as Varian. The Alliance then got a a king destined to lead the Army of the Light; the Horde got a war chief who is shady, not trusted, and confirmed by her latest short story to be quite evil. I get that it can be good story telling to have one of the factions struggle through life under an evil ruler, but why make it the Horde every time? When will they have another leader they can be proud of? Vol'jin was a good leader, but was written rather weakly; we never got to see him do anything epic in game. Garrosh (and now Sylvanas) was evil. They haven't had a leader to be proud of since Thrall. If Blizz wants to balance things between the factions, this is where they should start.
It is past time to merge Alliance and Horde into a force that fights for Azeroth.