Yep, I've always hoped they would keep/go for progression by area on top of other things. Would give a purpose to the different biomes as well, now you can just waltz into any area because the zombies scale with you anyways. Only the wasteland is a little more dangerous in the beginning days, but strangely enough it's the least interesting biome for resources/loot. No ores, no wildlife for meat (although rotten flesh can be useful), no special POIs. I just go there whenever I feel like sniping some zeds, or something.
The factory buildings and other tier IV/V quest locations come close to feeling like "high risk/high reward" areas, but they feel like a waste of time and resources since you can clear multiple smaller POI's in the same time span and walk away with the same kind of loot, but probably more of it (aside from quest rewards).