Do we really need the Scions again?

[Striker44]

There's nothing stopping them from introducing new characters alongside the familiar cast. Zero has become a main character and Vrtra a major supporting character throughout the 6.x patches while certain Scions are still involved. But yes, whether you or I personally like it or not, we "really do" need the Scions again. They're tremendously popular among the playerbase at large and our main "party" for this FF adventure. They're not going anywhere.

[Stormpeaks]

There's nothing stopping them from introducing new characters alongside the familiar cast. Zero has become a main character and Vrtra a major supporting character throughout the 6.x patches while certain Scions are still involved. But yes, whether you or I personally like it or not, we "really do" need the Scions again. They're tremendously popular among the playerbase at large and our main "party" for this FF adventure. They're not going anywhere.

"I think they're popular so the playerbase thinks they're popular"

Talk for yourself, it aint the first time you do this buddy, you dont speak for the playerbase

[SieyaM]

There's nothing stopping them from introducing new characters alongside the familiar cast. Zero has become a main character and Vrtra a major supporting character throughout the 6.x patches while certain Scions are still involved. But yes, whether you or I personally like it or not, we "really do" need the Scions again. They're tremendously popular among the playerbase at large and our main "party" for this FF adventure. They're not going anywhere.

I don't know if I would call Zero a main cast member yet. She's been with us for a handful of patches and seems very much like a special guest for this whole 13th shard story we're doing at the moment, which I assume will be concluded in 6.5 since every one of the scions that is involved with it will be leaving for the new world in 7.0.

[CNitsah]

There's nothing stopping them from introducing new characters alongside the familiar cast. Zero has become a main character and Vrtra a major supporting character throughout the 6.x patches while certain Scions are still involved. But yes, whether you or I personally like it or not, we "really do" need the Scions again. They're tremendously popular among the playerbase at large and our main "party" for this FF adventure. They're not going anywhere.

The problem with that is it's hard to introduce new characters when the main cast is already full of 8 people. Everytime a new character was introduced, it was with a smaller team. Even when Ryne was introduced, the first thing the story did was find a way to push the twins away for one zone, while Y'shtola was not in the equation yet, so the new character would not be drown under existing characters. Same for Zero. It's hard to imagine them introduce more than one (maybe two) main characters, and they will be in competition with the old ones.

I'm also part of the people that thought the 6.0 last scene was a declaration of intention for the characters, but it wasn't. I was slightly disappointed when I saw that half of the trailer was basically there just to say "Yeah, they all will be there". My biggest issue is that except for Estinien, all the scions have the same background : scholar from Sharlayan. It made sense with ShB and EW, but I wish we'd go back to more diverse cast, like in ARR (with Cid, Biggs and Wedge being important) HW (with Ysayle and Estinien) or SB (with Hien, Gosetsu, Yugiri, or even Lyse). I like (most of) the scion, but a little variety after 2 extensions would be nice. Keep some, add new characters, and then in the next expansion, take other, and leave the one you had in the previous one.

Now, I still have interest in the next extension, but I feel they just missed the perfect opportunity to introduce new cast member. I have difficulties to feel the adventure and going to the discovery of a not well known continent with 5 scholars of the world most advanced and knowledgeable country in my backpack.

[Iscah]

The problem with that is it's hard to introduce new characters when the main cast is already full of 8 people. Everytime a new character was introduced, it was with a smaller team.

That seems to be the plan here, though. Split the Scions into multiple groups, so we're only travelling with a few of them and some new or relatively low-on-screentime allies and whoever we are working with on arrival. Then the others might be popping in and out of the story as "rivals" but not constantly present or taking up time in cutscenes.