Indeed. Ever since BC came out, it's been easier, faster and less annoying all-around to level in the new areas compared to the old ones, making the last 10 levels of the game more pedagogical for unused players than the early areas they actually frequent.

Remember when Jeffrey Kaplan held Loch Modan up as an example of poor questing architecture? Blizzard now has the opportunity to apply more than five years of trial, error, success and failure.

Imagine leveling 1-58 with the combined efficiency and satisfaction of the best Northrend has to offer — that's our reward if Blizzard is serious about "reforging" Azeroth.

I honestly doubt they will speed up the leveling from 1-60. They are revamping old Azeroth not just for people at the level cap, but also for the new levelers. I think the idea is that they want to make leveling new characters fun and different again. It would defeat the purpose to go to all that work and then make it easy to speed through the new content without getting a chance to really appreciate it.

Speeding through the content is different from being able to level quickly.

You will not appreciate most of it unless you yourself take the time to read the quests and understand what is going on. This is maybe 10% of the WoW population. Thanks to Blizzard's trial and error, 1-60 WILL go faster simply because they now know how to build efficient questing structures. The lore behind them will be as it always has been - outstanding.