MSQ New Party Members would have been nice

[arstoka]

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.

I'm not sure if I follow. Are you saying you would prefer some of the Scions as main features in the MSQ or relegated to side quests only?

[TheMightyMollusk]

I love the Scions, but after two expansions of the entire group around all the time, I would've liked a break from them. I was hoping that Hoary Boulder getting voiced lines in Endwalker was a sign that maybe he'd be more important in the future; maybe we could've brought him and Coultenet along with us for a while. Along with Krile and Wuk Lamat, we'd have enough people for trust parties (assuming either Hoary or Wuk could double as a DPS).

[AnimalsALot]

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?

I wish we only had Wuk Lamat (even though her bid for the Dawn Throne makes no sense to me), Krile, Erenville, and maybe a few new people or neglected Scions joining us.

Alphinaud and Alisaie have no business in the New World. It makes way more sense for them to have found new purpose in Garlemald, helping to serve as ambassadors there. It would make sense that they have "matured" from adventurers to diplomats.

[SpiritMuse]

Yeah as much as I love the Scions, I do feel like this would have been a good time to leave them all behind and go on a new adventure with a fresh group of people. I feel like all their stories have been played out, and there is very little left for them to do. Perhaps we would see them pop up here and there in a minor role, but that would have been it. That whole extended goodbye scene we got at the end of EW really made me feel like that was the way we were going, and I was fully emotionally prepared for that. And now it feels like that emotional goodbye is kind of being undermined by them not actually going off to do their own things.

[Jeeqbit]

I don't think they're going to make any of the Mamool Ja recurring characters...

Well now that you mention it, maybe... but we'll have to explain to them why we use their distant cousins in Upper La Noscea for target practice on a regular basis.