It would nice to develop our origin story more.

[Selvokaz]

Through the course of the game, we hear about several characters origins, and even meet some of their family, but when it comes to the WoL, I can only think of one actual origin clue, and one false clue that I assume was from an old acquaintance. Because I picked Xaela Au'Ra I assume there might be less origin clues about what my life was like before becoming an adventure since they were a later addition to the game, Stormblood however did add one nice hint when you come across the Xaela tribes. When speaking to the Xaela merchant who sells Buz, she haphazardly insinuates that your parents must have fed you this traditional Xaela culinary dish, and I had to think, well yeah I guess they would have or could have.

What I would like Square Enix to do at some point, is allow us maybe through interaction and narrative kind of backtrack our WoL's prior history, maybe during an interview with someone, we can answer a few specific questions about what we remember growing up, and a few experiences that eventually led us to setting out toward our chosen starting city states. Maybe it's different based on race, maybe your were adopted. Maybe some of these choices could wind-up leading to the occasional correspondence from a family member or friend from your past before becoming the WoL, (we do have a mail system, maybe the writers could generate specific letters based on a multitude of previous answered questions and have someone close to you send you the occasional personal missive.) I'm not asking for fully voice acted cutscenes, but if you think about it, if they wanted to show you from a earlier point in time than when the game started they could just make it a first person perspective and angle the camera up while lowering its position to the ground to give the impression you're a small child.)

Just some quick thoughts.

[Cilia]

The point of having a very vague backstory for the Warrior of Light is specifically so you can write whatever you want into it and not have it contradict the in-game lore. You get a few lines in the opening cutscene telling the traveling merchant whether it's your first time going to whatever city-state you're on your way to, as well as why you chose adventuring as a profession, and that's it. You don't really need anything else - it's not relevant to the story and there's too many possibilities to have the Devs cover everything - and some people even roleplay characters whose story is kind of contradictory to what it's possible for the Warrior of Light to do (or have done) in the MSQ (i.e. players roleplaying Garleans, despite the fact they aren't a playable race). Leaving it open-ended, aside from those few and vague lines in the intro cutscene, is kind of ideal so players have freedom to define their character on their own.

For the record Hien also states that you "aren't of the Steppe" before your venture into Bardam's Mettle if you're a Xaela Au Ra, though he also comments that "your ancestors would [still] be proud of you."

[Brightamethyst]

The point of having a very vague backstory for the Warrior of Light is specifically so you can write whatever you want into it and not have it contradict the in-game lore.

Pretty much this. The WoL's origins aren't important to the story and are left blank so we can headcanon or RP it however we want.

[KaitoAsaha]

Would be interested in this being explored some more too, personally. I don't expect everyone to like the idea but in all honesty I always wondered about if the WoL had any family. I think it was the DRK quest for 4.x that touched up on it in one of the dialogue choices.

[Selvokaz]

It might not be important to the narrative of what's happening in Eorzea, but it is important to the player who is investing in their character. What separates a hero from say, joeshumo is the entire journey, not the point where they become cool. Luke Skywalker didn't start the story in his confrontation against darth vader, it was his entire journey up until that point. Seeing him work a little bit as a farm hand on his uncles farm, watching him negotiate deals for droids, and seeing with destiny finally takes him. This applies to all truly great hero tales, arthurian tales especially which is what the WoL feels most like.

Would be interested in this being explored some more too, personally. I don't expect everyone to like the idea but in all honesty I always wondered about if the WoL had any family. I think it was the DRK quest for 4.x that touched up on it in one of the dialogue choices.

I know exactly what you mean, and it was going to be in my original post, but I decided to leave it out due to spoilers, and not being certain whether to count it as real or fake considering it depends largely how you think your character feels or perceives others/the world around them. This is what makes a hero a hero and not just some generic guy/gal who has the narrative or title thrust upon them, the more you can relate to a character, the more invested you feel with a character the more the character stands out and story is all the more impressive or frightening.

Even the small jump on point for the idea given, allows for it to play a substory fill in that still ties with the overarching narrative, the WoL has been at this for a few years now, they are known throughout the upper echelons of the empire and throughout Eorzea, and now Yanxia and all the spaces in between, that kind of notoriety would definitely get back to some childhood friends or family, who I would think would probably want to talk to you again.

[uvuvwevwevweonyetenyevweugwemu]

Just thinking out loud, I sense a new type of levequests, easier than implementing directly as sub/part story. There's just no way writers or localization team can adjust options/dialogs for every possible backgrounds. Plus being levequests means it doesn't have to change the msq plot.

"Origin" levequests would fit as non-canon but tied to the zone story, and entirely optional so we can pick the origin we want. They can include like rescuing a childhood friend, or fetching things from your neighbor. Simple description would be enough for me though dialogs or bubbles would be better. If you're not from any of the levequest zone then you must not do them, just wait until next expansions when the zone is open. This last restriction means devs don't have to create 100 different levequests for each 25 zones, just the same 10-20 ones but restricted to the zone where you first open them. If you prefer not to have a homeland then you can just do nothing.

[KageTokage]

For the record Hien also states that you "aren't of the Steppe" before your venture into Bardam's Mettle if you're a Xaela Au Ra, though he also comments that "your ancestors would [still] be proud of you."

His exact line is "Perhaps you do not hail from these lands, but your forefathers did. You do them honor to carry on their legacy this day."

It just sounds as though he thinks it's unlikely that you're a native of the steppe. That would be the only logical explanation for a WoL who bears the name of one of the tribes featured prominently at the steppe being treated as an outsider, but any of the others are free game.

[Kallera]

While the openness of the character is for rp purposes, doesn't it make the WoL seem like a weak character? Not in terms of power so much as a character overall.

[DrWho2010]

the WoL is you. You know your own origin story lol

[Vidu]

While the openness of the character is for rp purposes, doesn't it make the WoL seem like a weak character? Not in terms of power so much as a character overall.

The WoL is a blank canvas, so you can put whatever you want on it - YOU fill the character with whatever you want.
So no, I wouldnt say its exactly a "weak character" - its just a character your game doesnt tell you anything about, to allow yourself to image whatever you want.
I dont think the definition of "good" or "weak" character fits here when the WoL is actually no character without you.