They really aren't the most exciting scenes. All this talk of them actually being assassins and whatnot, and so far all you get to do in the present day is listen to everyone give you copious amounts of attitude. It could really do without that stuff.
I'd love to see them keep the forward direction through history. WWII games are old-hat by now, but a WWI-era game would be really interesting because that allows for them to explore funky turn-of-the-century style military tech in a more modern Europe. I'd also LOVE to see a Cold War-era AC game. In my opinion, the AC series is practically built for a Cold War-era installment, and that would leave enough of a space for them to do a wholly present day game with Desmond. I don't know how far ahead they've thought the franchise through, but that seems like a logical path for them to take in my opinion.