I've Rambled About This On Discord Already, But I Think It Would Have Been Really Cool If Hoyo Took A

i've rambled about this on discord already, but i think it would have been really cool if hoyo took a different approach to the natlan archon quest. what we got was ok at best, but i think it would have been more interesting if the tribes had beef with each other. like imagine being mavuika; you construct this whole plan, you go inside the fire, and when you come out 500 years later your plan is in jeopardy because turns out a lot happens over 500 years and the tribes have been arguing about how to fix the abyss problem for so long that they are now fighting with each other (and maybe it's been so long that they don't even remember why they feel such animosity against each other anymore. 500 years is a lot of generations!)

and then some time later, the legendary traveler arrives in your land, and you figure this is it. this is my chance to fix this. so you and the traveler go around the different tribes trying to stop this war while it's still time and you pick a hero from each tribe to go fight the abyss with you.

i think it would create multiple opportunities. first, it would create interesting dynamics between the main cast. maybe some tribes have an amicable relationship, so two of the heroes would be willing to cooperate, but some would definitely have some kind of rivalry going on. there is also the opportunity to create the main yuri/yaoi ship of two heroes that desperately want to be "friends" but their tribes hate each other. this is exactly the kind of thing that's missing in natlan for me. imagine if we had these kind of dynamics, a group of people that under normal circumstances would be at each other's throats, i feel that it would only make the finale where they all unite to fight a common enemy feel much more heroic.

and second, mavuika would have to tackle actual trouble that is missing in the actual archon quest.

one of the criticisms that i have for the story is that mavuika's plan goes exactly how she plans it. everything is executed flawlessly, and sure there is the excuse that mavuika is a perfectionist who thinks of everything, but that doesn't mean that she can control every single circumstance. this curbed her of any potential growth in character that i think a scenario like this would have solved...

but that's just my idea anyway