This story is really underwhelming - it's opened to mixed reviews.

[Gortys]

Why would a new story arc need to be bad to exist? I don't understand where this talking point comes from.

I never wrote that I expected it to be bad, did I? See, this is you putting your opinion into what I wrote. You could ask for clarification, but it's easier to make assumptions. Let me translate - I reduced my "hype" regarding this expansion. I decided to try it as if it were a new game I never played before. Good stories do not have to be "deep" like some previous expansions were. A good story is a very broad description as well so I can lower my expectations of the type of story and still expect it to be good - see how that works?

HW was a new arc, but there was an overall arc above this regarding the Ascians. The previous expansions were is a serialized story arc together. YoshiP was quoted as saying something along the lines of "if people like this story, then it may lead to a new arc". I personally don't see it happening.

[SirShady]

I never wrote that I expected it to be bad, did I? See, this is you putting your opinion into what I wrote. You could ask for clarification, but it's easier to make assumptions. Let me translate - I reduced my "hype" regarding this expansion.

No, you just blamed people's lack of enjoyment with the expansion because they didn't "lower their expectations". Why would you lower your expectations if you didn't expect it to be worse than the previous expansions? You wouldn't lower your expectations if you thought it would match the quality of what came before. Nobody is putting words in your mouth. You're spelling it out right in front of us. If you didn't expect it to be worse, you wouldn't throw out your expectations for it to be good, or at least decent. That's just logic. You're basically telling people "Just consume product".

I haven't seen a single person asking for the ancients or allagans back. What I have seen is people comparing the current story arc and going "I miss the ascians and the allagans arcs because they had far better setup and were much more interesting than anything introduced in this expansion." which is a completely fair point to make. That doesn't mean they want to repeat those plot beats, just that they miss the better writing that came with them. If there were some new ascian or allagan equivalent in this story, some kind of well-written new plot point to explore later, people wouldn't be upset, but there isn't.

Good stories do not have to be "deep" like some previous expansions were. A good story is a very broad description as well so I can lower my expectations of the type of story and still expect it to be good - see how that works?

Good stories don't have to be "deep", but the quality of the writing should still be good regardless. I came into this expansion knowing it was going to be a slow-moving low-stakes romp around a new continent with some new characters. I was excited for that. I was hoping that the good character writing would carry us through the slow parts of the expansion until stuff heated up later. It did not. The characters were boring and hollow side pieces to Wuk Lamat, who is a tolerable side character at best and a terribly uninteresting and childish main character. The writing, for the most part, was awful.

So yes, I personally came in knowing I might not be invested right away because I knew it probably would be a bit slower and more lighthearted than what I normally enjoy. Some people actually prefer the slower slice-of-life stuff. Those people expected quality writing with lighter subject matter that more appealed to their tastes. I expected an all new arc, but that doesn't mean I'll eat up this infantilized slop. When the writing has consistently proven that it can handle mature themes and interesting characters, even if not always executed perfectly or with a few plotholes here and there, it makes absolutely no sense for us to throw out all standards just because "it's something new". It's something new, from the same team, from the same quality product, and it reads like teenage fan fiction. People have every reason to be unhappy.

[Gortys]

No, you just blamed people not enjoying the expansion because they didn't "lower their expectations". Why would you lower your expectations if you didn't expect it to be worse than the previous expansions? You wouldn't lower you expectations if you thought it would match the quality of what came before.

So you lowered your expectations regarding the story so you should understand how it can be done or what I was talking about. Also, the title of the thread says the story is "underwhelming" which does not mean it is bad. It typically means it was not what someone expected it to be hence my comments.
I saw many people who had expectations or even "predictions" of certain Ancients returning. I saw many people who had "predictions" based on the trailer and those people are going to be very unhappy. On the other hand, I know many who are loving this story because it's so "light".

And yes, DT does come off like fan fiction. I stated elsewhere that it feels more like something we would get for an alliance raid, but stretched out (not sure if that makes sense). Right now I'm kind of on the fence as I only have the last zone to start. I haven't seen spoilers, but I've seen some who are more disappointed after the last zone. Zone 4 and 5's voice direction annoyed me as much or more than any plot holes. Plot holes can be used later depending on how deep they are. Shallow ones I think are bad since they can and should be corrected right away. Some of them seem to be forgotten or just glazed over so far.

Am I still hopeful? Yes, but it's more that I'm hoping the post-MSQ content saves it (similar to StB).