I'm brand new here, so this may have been covered a million times already, but I personally (and maybe because I got really into the nord/Skyrim culture) found the civil war far more engaging than the Alduin quests and storyline. Guess I am throwing this open for discussion because I hope future DLC might further events in the conflict between Skyrim and the Empire/Thalmor. Other than wiping out camps and the occasional wandering soldiers or being recognized and greated as Stormblade now and then, the environment after the civil has taken place seems too resolved after an event that significant and recent.