Spoilers of the Wrath Gate

So I land, ride up to Bolvar, who is atop a monster peak, and turn the quest Return To Angrathar in. Bolvar then says he is going to go head off into battle, and disappears. I never noticed him leave, because I was noticing some major changes. What once was an area rife with major elite scourge, now was aflame and... blooming new life? There was dragons down there! And a quest! I jump down, nearly dying cause I was silenced without a debuff, and run up to... Alexstrasza and Korialstrasz, Consort of the Queen(see right). I noticed that Alexstrasza has a quest, but I also heard that the Alliance side of things were not yet fully implemented, and this is something I want the full experience of.

Unwilling to use that ! just yet, I ask in General what was up with all the stuff at the gate, and where did Bolvar go. A kind fellow lore fiend named Tigercat was kind enough to give me the long, and not much short, about the events as they will go down. Hold onto your seats for what I feel will be one of the most epic events I have seen in World of Warcraft to date. Yes, this dwarfs the Ahn'Qiraj opening, my first time in Molten Core, and not one but two characters getting married in game.

What was supposed to happen after I turn the quest in to Bolvar and he runs off is an epic fight at the Wrath Gate, and Tigercat tells me that he and Saurfang Jr both die in the fight. The reason for this is that a couple of NPCs both betray the two factions. Putress, an apparently new NPC, and Varimathras, servant of Sylvanas, turn against the enemies of the Lich King at their final moment. Once Bolvar and Saurfang die, Alexstrasza comes in and decimates the forces of the Lich King, though I can only assume the betrayers have fled.

Alexstrasza tasks us with finding Bolvar's shield and taking it back to the King in Stormwind, and when we do, he sends us with Jaina Proudmoore to, of all places, Ogrimmar to discuss the events with Thrall, who by now has heard of the fall of Saurfang. Thrall tell us that Putress and Varimathras have taken over Undercity and the chain then leads us to enter Undercity alongside Varian and Broll Bearmantle as we are tasked with taking out Putress.

The entire fight we get a buff that gives us ridiculous amounts of health and damage as well as healing any damage done to us nearly instantly. When Putress is down, Varian hears the battle shouts of Thrall, whose forces along with Horde players are taking on Varimathras. I am told Varimathras calls out to an unseen master, though the master does not aide him in his fight.

Varian commands his forces to find the leader of the Horde to end that side once and for all, and the two meet over the body of the dead Dreadlord, where the two exchange words with Varian becoming incredibly angry over what he experienced at the hands of members of the Horde. Then a roughly two minute PvP battle begins with each side having the same buff effect from their leader, and thus doing next to no damage.

Then Jaina arrives and begs for the two sides to stop. When they are unwilling, to cease hostilities, Jaina teleports all Alliance forces back to Stormwind, where the Alliance and Horde, instead of being allies, resume their warring status. From the point you complete the Return to Angrathar quest until you are back in Stormwind, you are in what is called a 'Phased Environment', a new aspect to the game that the expansion is introducing.

Another form of this is the Death Knight Starting Experience, where you move from versions of the world as you progress through the quests. From what Tigercat was kind enough to tell me, the experience, when it is fully implemented for the Alliance, will be utterly amazing, and well worth the effort and time the quest chain takes. I am not sure how much will be solo versus group content, but I will be happy to let you know when I know.