7.0 News from Reddit.

[Alleo]

The thing is, new characters still need to be built-up, the devs can't just unceremoniously dump an entire 7-8 people in that we've never met before and go "enjoy your new companions", can they?

Not only that but new characters does not necessarily mean that one likes them. Look at the Zero. There are already people here that really dont like her or what they have done to her.
I like the way they are doing it. Giving us a bit of a break from the whole group without throwing them all away. While giving us a few new characters on top of it.

No matter what we as players feel, the WoL is written to like these people. They are his friends. Of course he/she would not just leave them behind with no thoughts at all. And it seems at least that between the patches some time has gone by. So we had our own adventures and bascially just checked up on Tataru.

[Iscah]

Not only that but new characters does not necessarily mean that one likes them. Look at the Zero. There are already people here that really dont like her or what they have done to her.

This too. Even if they did go to the extreme of replacing the entire cast, it wouldn't be any guarantee that the replacements are any better or won't fit the same cliches. They're still being written by the same writers in the same plot.