>>713593085
>ARR and how the writers actually set up plothooks for the future
This is actually something that worries me far more long-term than badly written Mary Sues DMPCs. None of the writers working on XIV seem to be able to write long-term anymore. In 1.0 / ARR, each City State had its fair share of background conflicts (refugee crisis, Ishgard isolationism, Empire shenanigans and of course the Beast Tribes) that weren't solved and could take center stage anytime, and in some case did. Everything since post-EW (arguably post ShB) has closed more than it has opened. The Void is a non-factor, the Twelve will never appear again, Emet's list is already almost done. Tural is magnitudes bigger than Eorzea but feels narratively so small in comparison. We're not even one MSQ into our new arc we already have a dimension hopper as if the writers feel like Etheirys is a deadend. 8.0 will probably be better than 7.0, but every story from now on being "follow the new character in nth Continent / Shard and help him solve the entire regional conflict forever" really doesn't inspire me.