--WALL OF TEXT, TL;DR BELOW--
With all the leaks and discussions and what not about the upcoming expansion and its reveal in a few days, there's a lot of "No more orcs" going on as far as I can tell, understandably so.
So that got me thinking:
Which races should get some screentime?
So for the fun of it (hurray for speculation and pondering), I started to think which races we haven't seen that much, or haven't had much in major events so far in WoW, and just because I'd love to see the South Seas and Azshara I'll add some potential bits and pieces that might relate to each race.
For the Alliance, starting from the one needing screentime the most, to the one who could take a backseat this time around (if I missed something majorly obvious then it's likely cuz I play Horde primarily and haven't seen those stories):
Worgen, I don't feel these guys have had any love outside Gilneas and Silverpine Forest, which wasn't that much imo. Sure they're also human, but I'll let that somewhat slide for now. They could maybe have some interactions with the humans of Kul Tiras, and Stormwind for that matter, maybe some tension between these three "kingdoms". Also with the Worgen curse being some Night Elven shapeshifting thing, maybe the depths, or risen land, could have some secrets of relation to the Worgen.
Gnomes, they've had their operation in Gnomeregan, which didn't end too well, and then they cleared a room in Siege of Orgrimmar I guess. For so long they've been ignored, not even been given a proper cinematic appearance (Wrathgate doesn't count). They could supply the Alliance with some neat ships and submarines, of course, and possibly try to gain control of the wrecked island of Kezan, trying to get their hands on any Goblin secrets buried under all the rumble.
Dwarves, they've shown up here and there with Muradin returning in Wrath, Magni turning to crystal in Cata and the Council of Three Hammers being established. But I'd love to see them in action rather than just sitting in Ironforge, or Magni returning to find his daughter and grandson. Not entirely sure what could happen in a South Seas expansion for them, but maybe there are some vaults or sunken titan constructions somewhere in the depths.
Night Elves, they had some "love" with some naga and all the events of Mount Hyjal in Cata, and they got some time in Mists in Krasarang and trying to get the Divine Bell. The connection to the South Seas would be obvious though if we got the Naga and Azshara entering the fray, so not much to say there.
Pandaren, yes they recently had their own expansion, but the Pandaren of Tushui haven't been around much, so I'd love to see what Aysa could be up to these days. Maybe the Pandaren could have some connection to the ancient sunken lands, or if the Zandalari show up again.
Humans, ah yes, we've seen humans all over the place so many times of course, so I'd like to let them sit back for just a bit. However, if we head to sea then Kul Tiras should show up, finally, and then I suppose we can let the Humans get some time in the sun.
Draenei, not that I mind our dear space goats, but they've just had their time in the Draenor sun, so I'm sure they can sit back a little bit. Besides, of all the Alliance races they're the ones that have the least connection to anything happening out to sea, as far as I can tell. Nothing rings any bells at least.
Moving on to the good ol' Horde:
Goblins, sure they're around here and there, blowing everything to bits, but they should have some time to do their own thing that doesn't have to involve working for the Horde. Gallywix isn't even around ingame other than the starting zones and the Siege cinematic. I could imagine the Goblins going haywire over returning to Kezan to get their island back from pirates and the Gnomes trying to steal all their secrets. I basically want a battle of mechs and explosions, sure it's possibly goofy and silly, but it's still war!
Tauren, poor guys lost their chieftain and almost lost their home and Baine had some time in Mists, but other than that they just seem to be... there... They don't really do much else. So with some sunken lands being raised or not, perhaps those areas could contain some ancient lore regarding the tauren that could prove to be interesting.
Forsaken, these guys have been keeping to themselves for a long time now. Last I feel we've seen them was in Cata and throughout Mists and Warlords they've not taken much part in anything else, other than an appearance of Sylvanas in the Siege. Sadly I'm not sure what they would be up to at the seas, maybe raise some sunken corpses to expand their ranks, maybe. But I miss those guys, that's for sure!
Trolls, yeah yeah, their leader is now the Warchief and we've had so many Troll patches and dungeons and Shadow Hunters in Warlords, but I wanna see Vol'jin in action, and I wanna see the Zandalari being desperate and the interactions between them and possibly the Pandaren, and everyone else for that matter! The Zandalari aren't fully dealt with, so we should get that done if we head to the seas!
Blood Elves, they've had some time in Mists and a little in Warlords, and maybe it's debatable that they deserve the time more than the Trolls, but I decided to put them here anyway. It would be nice to see them in action with their new Anima Golems and maybe see them digging around ancient Highborne ruins to gain more power.
Pandaren, pretty much the same reasoning as their Alliance counterpart, but lower here because I really feel it was a somewhat poor decision to make them playable in the way that they did. Would be lower on Alliance side too if not for Humans and the recent bunch of Draenei.
Orcs, like I need to explain this one... Too many orcs for a while now, they need to back off for a bit. No Thrall, no Grommash, no Durotan or whatever, let the others take the lead for now, they got this!
So that's what I think of our dear races and what could be done in that one particular scenario. Now there's only but to wait for the announcement and see what we'll get, but I'm not getting my hopes too high. :P
--TL;DR--
I think so many races deserve some lore while others need to take a backseat for a bit (looking at you, Orcs!)
Above I've stated my thoughts and some ideas, if we had a South Seas/Azshara expansion.
Which race(s) would you love to see most in the next expansion?