I saw "Emerald Nightmare" and went "Wait, what?"

Unfortunately, that's not simply an Alliance problem. What happened to Cairne? Novel. Who's that chick Thrall's stuck on? Novel. Where did those Val'kyr come from? Short story.

Blizzard has a bad habit of taking some very critical lore moments and only addressing them outside the game. However, it sounds like they acknowledge that, and I'm hopeful that maybe we'll see something different in the future.

All that being said, it IS true that the Alliance has gotten the short end of the stick a bit, story-wise, in Cat; Blizzard's acknowledged that too. That's why I'm really anxious to see what they do with the promised Trials of the King quest chain; it's really Blizzard's chance to give us something to feel proud of, and give the Alliance a hero that doesn't exist solely in statue form in-game.

But here's the difference, Cairne's death is mentioned in game, several times. It might not be depicted, but its impact is seen. Baine mentions it in the Tauren starting zone. The Val'kyr are seen in Silverpine and WPL. Their abilities are shown, and codified within the game. The specific minutia might be missing, but you know about them.

The War on the Nightmare? No one talks about it. No one mentions it. If you didn't read the book, you wouldn't know if it had happened. Wolfheart? No mention of Wrynn's ascension with the wolf god exists in game. The push across ashenvale? The unleashing of the Magnataurs? The duel with Garrosh? If you didn't read the book, they don't exist, there's no evidence of their impact in the game. There's no evidence and either Varian or Anduin ever set foot in Ironforge in game. Much less fought his way in at the head of SI:7. The in game story shows magni going diamond, and power transfering to the Council, with no evidence of an intermediary reign of Moira alone. The assassination attempt by Benedictus? No mention of it, at all. Everyone in Stormwind thinks Benedictus left for missionary work.

That's the fundamental difference, the Horde storyline is supplemented by out of game materials, the Alliance story exists solely within out of game materials.