
In my opinion 3.x has been much better in keeping characters relevant to the story after their banner ends. It honestly feels like they wrote 3.X story with the key players in mind to contribute all the way throughout this version cycle.
This definitely make the world feel more alive than before, we even get to see Shorekeeper and get a brief update on the black shores, Chisa who’s a 2.X character is still assisting us in the current patch. Mornye and Lynae who were the first two banners of 3.X are still appearing in the story.
The best part of it all? The best NPC design in the game even made a reappearance, The Shaper (Please Kuro make him playable, I’d even take him being a 4 star at this point)