While I'm not entirely sure I agree with the original poster's sentiment, I did feel that the voice acting in this expansion, including from our seasoned Scions, was weaker compared to previous work.

I'm uncertain if this was due to voice direction issues or time constraints, but I wasn't impressed with the voice acting this time around either. There were multiple scenes where Y'shtola, the twins, and even Estinien sounded really flat and uninterested, almost as if they were half asleep or potentially sick during recording. There's a scene which I won't spoil, but basically Y'shtola gave a performance similar to "...oh no...what ever shall I do..." in the most bored, unconvincing tone I've ever heard from her actress.

This applies to much of the new cast as well. For instance, I believe Wuk Lamat's va did well in normal conversations, but her performance felt monotonous, making emotional scenes feel very flat. This seemed to be a common issue with most of the new cast, making it difficult to determine whether it was due to casting less experienced actors or poor voice direction. Honestly, I don't keep track of who the voice actors are, so I'm not sure about their experience levels before joining FFXIV.

It's unfortunate that there's so much drama surrounding the voice acting because it hinders our ability to have a civil, genuine conversation with constructive criticism. The loud, hateful voices have ruined that opportunity for the rest of us, I guess.