The Crossroads is the largest Hordetown in the Barrens, aptly named for the crossing of the main north-south road (from the Gold Road) and the road from Ratchet in the east all the way to the Stonetalon Mountains in the west. Combined with its central location and the Wyvern flight routes, the Crossroads offers access to nearly all Horde outposts in Kalimdor. As such, this small crossing is the usually the first place you will see large gatherings of players outside of Orgrimmar or Thunder Bluff.
In addition to the numerous Horde players that gather there, Crossroads attracts its fair share of Alliance players as well. Within striking distance of Ashenvale to the north, and the port of Ratchet to the east, it is not uncommon to find an all out war happening outside one of the entrances of Crossroads on a daily basis. Larger scale Alliance assaults tend to occur during peak server population periods. (Between 4 PM and around midnight.)
The area outside the inn also serves as an informal practice ground for PvP, and offers a good place for lower level Horde players to cut their teeth, as these are skills that they will likely need when facing the Alliance in more sparsely populated, remote regions later on.
The Alliance pose a significant threat to Crossroads. With Ashenvale to the north, and the war-torn Southern Barrens to the south, it is reasonable to assume that out of all the Horde cities, this is among the most threatened by Alliance Presence.
The Bristleback Tribe have settled throughout the Northern Barrens, and despite being dim-witted and primitive in the ways of warfare, their numbers have grown in the past few decades and are becoming more and more of a threat.
Graveyard issue
For some reason, there are many locations, especially on some parts of instances or walljumping areas on both Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdom, where dying causes the Horde player to appear at the Crossroads graveyard. Some of the faults have been addressed in patches.