I have different feelings in this case.
I 100% agree with people who say that we should have a humble begining; it is true that it's cool in a mmorps to be no one, and stargint to grow up and having more reputation but never being the chosen one; just another great warrior, mage, priest...like in wow classic or in the classic mmorpgs.
Related with starting zones I see two good options: on the one hand developers can follow the tradicional scheme of one starting area for each race (please, no one starting area for everyone of the faction, that's simplist and boring) or focusing more on the classes and having one starting area for every class. I think it could be awesome to have a first starting area for every class (instanced and maybe to level until level 5 or so) and once you complete that introduction to your class, your kingdom claims for you and you are send to the starting zone of your race. This is something similar to what happened with DKs in WoW wotlk but in every class. I do not know if it is maybe much more work for devs but I think it could me awesome to have like two starts: one in which you learn about your class and the second one, when you go to the "real world" (not a instanced one) and you start your journey.
It would be so cool to have a Class Starting Area and a race exclusive main story, to then unite all races stories in the biggest world plot.