Would you be ok with a good rival figure for 7.0+?(6.0 spoilers)

[Lyth]

...

I'd love to take a party of Loporrits on an adventuring campaign. You'd just need Tataru to outfit them with Onion Knight armor, and then you'd have your very own Scallions of the Seventh Dawn.

[KageTokage]

Assuming the situation in central Ilsabard doesn't just blow over off-screen somehow, I wouldn't seeing more of Jullus and/or Gaius if we end up having to help bring stability to the region due to territorial disputes between the remaining Garlean legions and/or a lingering presence of blasphemies that emerged due to discontent with the imperial rule.

Likewise, if the eastern regions like Hingashi and Nagxia end up being a focus, I'd welcome having Yugiri and Gosetsu around again..

I think if we get stories pertaining to the other continents that would be an ideal time to introduce entirely new characters from those lands to serve as a focus, akin to how XI had a distinct "main" character for each of its expansions (Ariciela, Aphmau, and Lilisette being the ones I can recall strictly from their presence in spin-offs) after the initial story arc ended. Perhaps someone with ties to the Whalaqee tribe for the New World or Tiamat's brood in the case of Meracydia.

[Jirah]

We are literally god at this point. I personally believe EW is the beginning of the end in terms of the writing as they’ve literally wrote themselves into a corner with no threats, no physical way to best being in space and beyond, and no way for anyone to challenge us, the WOL who’s literally beaten despair itself.

Any rival for use would be Poultry, and a pathetic one. The only time they’ve reset the status quo was in SHB where we were a nobody again, but now we are the savior of multiple realms

[KageTokage]

They don't need to keep raising the stakes further and making the journeys more extreme with every expansion. WoW tried to do that and it's how they ended up the narrative sinkhole they're in now.

As far as the power scale goes, the Endsinger kind of dug her own grave because us and the Scions ultimately turned the excess of dynamis she had gathered against her, so I honestly don't consider her that much of a dead end in that regard. I also feel like Zenos existed largely to demonstrate that a more grounded antagonist can still be a threat to us (At least from a narrative standpoint...) because at the end of the day the main things he had going for him were his Resonant treatment and his own exceptional combat prowess. The vast majority of the human foes we've contended with tend to have only some kind of power augmentation or martial skill to rely on, not both, so I kind of expect any future antagonists to be like him by necessity if they want them to be threatening to us specifically.

Villains can still be compelling by virtue of the threat they pose to the others around us and don't necessarily need to keep upending us on the power scale, either. After all, it's not like there's any indication we broke even a slight sweat when it came to dealing with...basically anyone prior to Zenos. It could even be interesting to deal with a villain whose strength lies in politics and subterfuge; manipulating the people and other circumstances to put themselves in a position that makes them extremely difficult to deal with via brute force; klnda like Teledji but less stupid (Seriously, don't gloat about your evil schemes right in front of the guy who hates your guts more then anyone else).

[Cleretic]

We are literally god at this point. I personally believe EW is the beginning of the end in terms of the writing as they’ve literally wrote themselves into a corner with no threats, no physical way to best being in space and beyond, and no way for anyone to challenge us, the WOL who’s literally beaten despair itself.

Any rival for use would be Poultry, and a pathetic one. The only time they’ve reset the status quo was in SHB where we were a nobody again, but now we are the savior of multiple realms

I think it's folly to declare us a god rather than just 'a really good fighter who's got some big stories'. Nothing that's happened to us has been necessarily anything that another exceptionally good warrior would've been able to do given the right opportunity, it's just that we happened to be in the right place at the right time. Granted, I think they're gonna have a challenge trying to write themselves down from that peak in a way that doesn't inherently feel a little bit low-rent in comparison, but other franchises have walked that road quite well before; we're in the spot of 'Dragon Ball Z after killing Frieza' or 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure after Stardust Crusaders', they just need to pitch a smaller scale in a way that doesn't feel like smaller stakes. But I think declaring us to be Superman is wrong, and drives you down a wrong path in considering alternatives.

I think the spot we're generally at is that we're among the best mortal warriors in the world, but that doesn't mean we're indisputably the best one, or that that makes us necessarily some kind of superhero. For a good example of both of those and a good way of how you can tell a story around it, consider Bozja: we're nothing to sneeze at, but we're one person who can be outmaneuvered and outnumbered, and there's a few people in the IVth Legion who can give us a run for our money in a straight-up fight. Just because we're top dog, doesn't mean we shouldn't watch ourselves.

[Absimiliard]

Gameplay and story segregation are unfortunately a thing. Most of the enemies we face that appear to be a legitimate challenge actually aren't in lore, which is partly explained away as the WoL never fully exerting themselves outside of a few rare circumstances. The only mortals that have been able to stand up to the WoL's full might head on were Zenos and Ran'jit, the latter of which is universally agreed upon to come across as forced to a degree that is ridiculous. All other incidents were written in such a way as to provide adversaries with a numbers, tactical, or technological advantage. None the less, this does mean the WoL is not invincible.

[Lyth]

The world's a big place. We've spent 10 years just exploring part of a continent. If Etheirys had an equivalent scale to Earth, you could easily spend another 60 years travelling and still not see everything. Let alone all the parallel worlds floating around.

Given how closed off global travel is, it's easily possible for different continents on Etheirys to have large differences in their technology and fighting power.

I think the bigger issue is your sense of 'safety'. Heavensward's strongest element was its setup through 2.5, in that you're effectively an exile with no reputation of value seeking refuge. Shadowbringers likewise did a good job of giving you this sense of being in a new world against an oppressive foe without your usual supports. Part of this gets diluted by the fact that you're still playing an MMO, so they can't truly 'shipwreck' you in a foreign land with no access to your usual safe zones like an offline Final Fantasy entry can. I think a lot of this comes down to how quickly you establish yourself. If you show up in Meracydia and become viewed as a continent-wide rockstar within an expansion of your arrival, then you've effectively 'conquered' the area. Of course you're going to feel like nothing can really challenge you because you own the zone.

This has more to do with how easily the local populace is won over by your actions, and less to do with how 'powerful' the bad guys are. You can always scale enemies up. But you can only win over an area once.

[nighttimebunny]

Considering how they danced around and joked about all Zenos questions in the Live Letter, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what happens.

[Cleretic]

The only mortals that have been able to stand up to the WoL's full might head on were Zenos and Ran'jit,

and Raubahn (if you count sparring), and Elidibus in Zenos' body, and Lyon, and Sartauvoir, and Elidibus in Ardbert's body, and Menenius, and Lyon again, and Venat...

There's actually been a good few people that 1v1'd us and walked away, it's just that not all of them went in for multiple rounds.

[Veloran]

and Raubahn (if you count sparring), and Elidibus in Zenos' body, and Lyon, and Sartauvoir, and Elidibus in Ardbert's body, and Menenius, and Lyon again, and Venat...

You just listed a bunch of people that WoL beat.