This thread seems to have derailed massively. This is about the current state of Wintergrasp on Warmane's Lordaeron realm. In my eyes, to twist it into an argument about "realm progression" is to ignore and belittle the problem entirely.
The fact is that Wintergrasp is heinously unfair on Lordaeron right now, in favor of the defenders. That is an awful state for enjoyability of the realm. Period. Whether there was a hidden mechanism prior to 3.3.3 or not has no bearing on it.
Please, Obnoxious. This really doesn't matter. You KNOW there isn't hard data of any kind, lest you wouldn't post something so pompous. Why don't we focus on what the issue actually is?: Wintergrasp is so unfair that the attacking team doesn't even bother to queue, and thus it isn't fun for ANYONE.
If you really want to draw endless comparisons to retail; retail, from the moment WotLK launched, favored the attackers, not the defenders. This was very clearly deliberate, to foster WG changing hands with relative frequency. That's a GOOD thing for the state of a realm, as it promotes both sides controlling it often. Lordaeron needs this for Wintergrasp's longevity. Without it, WG will continue to die out, and the people (like me) that came to Lord specifically for it will leave with it.
Wintergrasp is an integral part of gameplay at 80, with legitimately important rewards. Please, for the health of YOUR server, look into implementing something that fosters WG changing hands frequently. If nothing is done, WG will die.