I'm not huge on the way general story structure has taken a turn to only include "related" / "relevant" characters. This is most notable with vignette stories, as nowadays they're all focused on one central plot that only includes characters from that region or faction. Older vignette stories had random operator combinations and I enjoyed that quite a bit. In earlier main story chapters, random RI operators would get cameos for no real reason other than to drive home the fact that we're all on the same team (both Elysium and Rangers showed up pretty early and briefly, if I'm not mistaken). Even IS2's monthly squads featured random sets of barely related characters (disregarding ABC gang)-- nowadays, all stories feel very safe. Yan events only have Yan characters. Victoria events only have Victoria characters. The most we really get are short cameos from on-banner operators, like Alanna appearing in Chapter 15 for a scene. I understand that some of these combos and stories were very hit or miss, but it's hard to get engaged in the world now that it feels like fans are forced into engaging with determined groups of characters. Just a pet peeve of mine, not sure if anyone feels the same. I'm sure there's a much better way to word this, too.