I don't necessarily mind the Zeno villain thing but I am a bit bummed Regula sounds like he is going to go out in a relatively minor role. I still hope we will see more moderate Garleans. They said that they will be comparing the Garleans to the Allag the Garleans try to emulate and while there was a lot wrong with the Allag, I don't think they were entirely bad as a nation (apart from Miqote persecution the bastards!:P)

One thing I kind of hold out with is the idea that being loyal to the idea of the Garlean state and loyal to the imperial family don't necessarily have to be the same thing. We know that Garlemald has conflicting internal factions and I expect us to end up going to Garlemald proper some day. When your talking about a faction like Garlemald, there aren't that many threats big enough to make them reliable allies at the moment unless the Ascians switch tact completely and start operating openly or unless the threat to Garlemald is Garlemald itself.

My hope is at some point Garlemald will get a bit of the Ishgard treatment in that we have to deal with the elements that are a threat but we aren't going to go there to throw the baby out with the bath water.