MSQ New Party Members would have been nice

[arstoka]

With the way that Endwalker, well, ended, it felt like we were going to have a shake up with the cast going forward. I know, I know, I was very naive to think that SE would write the Scions out large roles in further expansions. Gods know how people would riot (I say jokingly).

Even still, it felt pretty bad to encounter them again in the patch content which felt very...for lack of a better word, jarring.

I honestly would have preferred a whole new cast to kick off the new story (give the Scions a much needed break and be able to do their own things). It would have felt really cool/satisfying for them to pop up here and there for relevant battles or history or tech related problem solving or other climatic moments where it's that good old trope of "calling in the gang".

But I get it, they were disbanded only in name.

So I suppose, dear forums, would you have preferred the Scions be off doing their own things and we start DT with a cast of new faces or do you prefer going on more adventures with them?

Are there any characters (like Lyse or Dion, etc) that you would have liked to join us on a journey instead?

[Asari5]

i agree, i also would have liked it more if most of the scions wouldnt be part of our msq adventure anymore.

they dont have to die. make them achieve happines elsewhere. there could be side quests with them.
shtola and thancred may go back to the first, which could also serve for showing us whats going on there and how everyone is doing.
tataru for a crafter questline?
the twins wanted to help garlemald and urianger could achieve domething in sharlayan. they all could be reasons to interact with the established world later in time.

some may write us messages, a few might need our help or pop up unexpectedly in a few years in some foreign city.

regardless of how i feel about wuk and erenville the two of them feel firstmost extremly refreshing. krile too, she gas been on the sideline for far too long.

its no disaster and i got used to the thought, but having the WHOLE cast again just feels so stale and samey. lets not forget how a cadt this big means less screentime for each character

[Nebelheim]

I would like a new group of characters to come with us and have a break from the scions for at least a single expansion just to have something new instead of always having familiar things around all the time.

[ronibosch]

Yeah, I was hoping for that, too. There are a lot of side characters (both in the MSQ and side quests) that I wouldn't mind adventuring with. We could still have a few Scions tagging along, but I think it would've been better if most of them stayed behind to focus on their own duties. We could even have an option to periodically check up on them every now and then if we wanted to.

I understand that the Scions are the faces of FFXIV (alongside the canon WoL) and thus marketable, but I personally feel like they only serve as expository mouthpieces for our mute WoL and Duty support rather than actual, unique characters at this point in the MSQ.

I started noticing how stale they were becoming sometime between ShB and Endwalker (can't remember which instances made me feel this way, but there were several).

That's my two cents, anyway.

EDIT: I wouldn't mind getting to know some of the other Scions better, like Hoary Boulder and Coultenet.

[Zaniel]

They have sort of painted themselves into a corner because the existing Scions are REALLY REALLY big fan favourites, with that much history a significant portion of the player base would hate to see them go. I admit I am in the camp of preferring to see a few retire, maybe not all of them. There are even good existing choices to slot in. Y'shtola has sort of worn out her welcome with me, she's become a bit too deus ex machina, Urianger is becoming forced, Estinien has sort of played out his story and character development (he's complete). I don't mind Krile joining, that's fine and I still like the twins (still have room to grow), Thancred is 95% completed as a character like Estinien so he just needs to be finalised in his journey, G'raha is almost in a similar state, trending to complete.

If they are worried about short notice they could even temporarily sprinkle in a few familiar characters to round out the roster, like grab Makoto to replace Y'shtola, Hilda or Ogul to replace Thancred or Estinien (we haven't had a machinist or samurai Scion before), Riol or Lucia, then add some fully new characters slowly over time. There's tonnes of interesting side characters who were good in the past and could logically fill in as a Scion in the short term. I mean characters like Yugiri were so constant they were like half-way Scions at times.

[KisaiTenshi]

So I suppose, dear forums, would you have preferred the Scions be off doing their own things and we start DT with a cast of new faces or do you prefer going on more adventures with them?

Not exactly. What I would "like" is what we see in side quests:
- Hildibrand (You, Hildibrand, Nashu; Recurring Greg)
- Job quests (You, The "guy" who runs the guild, someone who plays a villain in the story)
- Dungeon unlocks (You, some random NPC, and some story strung along for it)
- Raids (You, Cid, Wedge, Biggs, sometimes Nero, and one or two some story-line pushing NPC's plus a villain)
- Alliance Raids (You and entirely separate stories not connected to previous raids or MSQ, (other than CT))

Other than Hildibrand, and the 8-player raids, everything else basically has no recurring characters, especially nobody voiced. What I would like is the main NPC to just be "you", the NPC that points you in that direction (in this case Krile.) Every one else gets pushed to shorter voiced side-quests that is just you and them.

Do I want a clean slate? No. That's a great way to destroy emotional investment in the game. Every expansion has to bring back at least TWO of the previous characters into the MSQ (since the new jobs are both DPS, that means that Thancred, Urianger and/or G'raha has to always be "in the MSQ" though that doesn't mean Wuk Lamat isn't an "all rounder" or a "DPS/Tank" since we haven't seen what she is, officially. If it does turn out she is a tank, then that means Thancred can have a break, but that still only leaves Urianger for healer or G'raha to be all-rounder.)

Between the trailer and the Live Letter, we basically know:
- You
- Ali and Alphy
- Y'shtola, Urianger, and Thancred
- Krile
- G'raha
That's 8 characters. So for Wuk Lamat and Erenville. We are basically assuming that Wuk Lamat is going to be a solo/trust NPC. Erenville, no idea.

[Jeeqbit]

With the way that Endwalker, well, ended, it felt like we were going to have a shake up with the cast going forward. I know, I know, I was very naive to think that SE would write the Scions out large roles in further expansions. Gods know how people would riot (I say jokingly).

I agree, but SE is aware of this. They know some people want new cast members, but they also know a lot of people are fans of specific characters, which makes it difficult to really ever get rid of them.

However, they are introducing lots of new characters in 7.0 and said something along the lines of who we travel with after that is likely to depend on player sentiment. Especially since there should be some new characters to travel with instead.

I honestly would have preferred a whole new cast to kick off the new story (give the Scions a much needed break and be able to do their own things). It would have felt really cool/satisfying for them to pop up here and there for relevant battles or history or tech related problem solving or other climatic moments where it's that good old trope of "calling in the gang".

I feel that's mostly the case really. We clearly have Wuk Lamat (new), Erenville (new), Krile (we've talked to her sometimes, but doesn't normally stick around and fight so kinda new), Alisaie and Alphinaud (not new). And Thancred and Urianger seem like our rivals.

Are there any characters (like Lyse or Dion, etc)

Hmm.

[AmiableApkallu]

With the way that Endwalker, well, ended, it felt like we were going to have a shake up with the cast going forward. I know, I know, I was very naive to think that SE would write the Scions out large roles in further expansions.

And yet, the cats and the twins are all missing from Dawntrail's "Key Characters."

[NegativeS]

Giving SE the benefit of the doubt, the quests leading up to DT kind of make it seem that Thancred and Urianger are going to assume an antagonist role, at least at first... Kind of a welcome shakeup, if you ask me.

Getting to see more of Krile is awesome, and I'd probably never get tired of Estinien or Y'shtola, who I've always thought were the two most endearing Scions.

Having the twins along for the ride is kind of bleh, though. I don't mind them, but I think I got enough of the two of them forcing themselves to be my WoL's best friends since the events Heavensward.

I think it would have been a bad idea for SE to completely ditch the Scions and start with an entirely new cast. Erenville is probably going to become a fan favorite, but Wuk Lamat will probably be a little polarizing (if she doesn't turn out to be a villain, calling it now btw), and not to be racist, but I don't think they're going to make any of the Mamool Ja recurring characters...

[arstoka]

And yet, the cats and the twins are all missing from Dawntrail's "Key Characters."

That's a fair point however we won't be able to judge the extent of the Scion's involvement in Dawntrail until we play through the story. That and the Launch Trailer quite clearly shows the Twins boarding the boat with the WoL to Tural among featuring prominently through various cutscenes and dungeons. (Yes, the dungeons could have them as trusts so this could be a moot point by the time the game is out and the content is played.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BghYTigv8E

We also know for a fact that Urianger and Thancred will be involved and, Gra'ha Tia and Estinien are shown in cutscenes in the Launch Trailer as well. The extent of their involvement in the plot is unknown at this time.

Based on the two trailers that have come out (the original teaser prominently featuring the Scions as a selling point) and the Launch Trailer does make me think they will be more involved in the story but again, that's based on feelings and speculation.

While I'm not saying no contact whatsoever with the former Scions, we were given one patch to be introduced to Wuk Lamat verses the possibility of having used all of the patches to set up a larger cast (instead of focusing on characters that may or may not come into play should SE decide to go that route).

As I stated in the original question, "...would you have preferred the Scions be off doing their own things and we start DT with a cast of new faces or do you prefer going on more adventures with them?"