Ascian crud is being wrapped by the end of 6.x patch series. 7.0 will be a fresh saga, maybe not with ALL new characters, but we'll be done with empire vs alliance and ascian machinations by then most likely. So your suggestion of people not having to go through all the current storyline to enjoy things is already kind of solving itself

Source: Yoshi-P has alluded to 6.0 being the end of the Ascian arc countless times over the years in live letters and interviews, here's one for the sake of having a direct link.
https://gamerescape.com/2016/11/15/f...-fan-festival/

Specifically within that article he states towards the end of question:
At the current state, we will need up to 6.0 to finish everything. (laugh)