I think alot of people have missed alot of the developing story.
Lets start with Flame and Frost. In it we see the very unlikely dredge and Flame Legion allaince, the Molten Alliance. Their goal does seem conquest oriented but much of their focus was on developing an amalgum of magic and engineering. When attacking their facilities we find they are using slaves to mine a substance called Azurite that seems to have the properties of being able to conduct magical energy and seems to be part of how their technology works.
In the wake of this we find out another fact. It was a third party that arranged the allaince and though we know what the dredge and Flame Legion were after this third group remains out of sight including what it got out of the deal.
Secrets of Southsun was a break in the story used to introduct Keil and Kasmeer.
With the Dragon bash festival we are introduced to said festival. At the height of the festival, an act of sabotage kills one of the leader of LA and introduces a new enemy, the Aetherblades who we all know are sky pirates. Unmasking Mai as the murderer we discover that the Aetherblades saught to secure a place on the Captian’s Council.
Now the interesting part. In attacking their base of operations we discover three facts. One is that the Inquest is supporting them. Second is that the Aetherblades themselves lack the skills to mantain their gear by themselves (Keil states this). Third, we discover Mai, leader of the Aetherblades, has a boss, Scarlet.
Now we have two groups with someone manipulating them from the shadows.
The festival ends with Mai telling us that the Aetherblades arent done yet.
Now we have the Bazaar of the Four Winds. Theres alot to the story and lore of the Zephyrites. Infact the Zephyrites may have something of increadable value.
He has some points wrong but the general gist is there.
So now we have a group working from the shadows. connected to the Inquest, and who have recently formed a force of Sky Pirates, and a sky ship potentially holding artifacts and knowledge of great power…..
And thats ignoring Mr E., Marjory and Kasmeer’s connection to the corruption in the Ministary in DR, the politics of LA and the personal stories of Braham and Roxx.
And people say theres no story in the Living World story…..
I think the issue is more that people are missing the threads of the story for whatever reason.