Thread: 7.0 News from Reddit.

Originally Posted by Tsiron

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?

You don't need a whole arc to introduce someone, nor do you need 8 new people out of the gate. A couple quests or a cutscene introducing the new "leads" gets the ball rolling, then the journey alongside them starts showing you the finer details. Games, multiseason shows, sequels to movies, etc manage to do this, its not a new concept.

Heck, think back to how Graha was introduced for Crystal Tower: He's briefly mentioned by an existing minor NPC, later he talks off camera while we're off doing our thing, after a few quests he reveals himself and, ta-da, we have a new "important" character thats present for the rest of the CT story (and then some).

An even shorter, simpler intro is Lyna's at the start of SHB:
We land in place we've never been and in ~5 min meet a guy thats eaten offscreen and Lyna. This intro teaches us that this world is dangerous, Lyna is a guard, and Lyna is a no-nonsense person. Thats all we needed! Any further aspects of her personality or story were set to be discovered as we got to know her better.