The duty support is bad for the game's story.

[ovIm]

I think it's just terribly utilized. There is NO reason that we couldn't have gone into the fights alone, we summon folks with the Azem crystal, why can't the duty support characters just be some random spectres of light that we summon, or something like that?

I don't like that some stuff has been overly dumbed down for duty support, but the story issues are a problem of a lack of imagination if anything.

I think the Azem crystal summoning thing can technically "run out" so the WoL tries not using it too much?

However:
In Stormblood, before the Susano fight (i think?), Alisae jokes about the WoL just summoning random friends they have around somewhere.
There are other parts in the game where its implied that the WoL just stomped the current local god by themselves.

Both solutions worked equally well I find. A healthy mix of every explanation we have would be nice.